As Good a Disguise as Any
by Neonlights
Summary: She's a klutz. We know that. She works so hard to hide her true self... what happens when the past is no longer escapable and she has to save all her ignorant friends? Suddenly very alone, she's only relying on herself now. And death is comming!
1. Chapter 1

AN; you should be able to figure this out fairly well, but just in case, the four generals have awakened on earth and met Serenity/Serena/Sailor Moon and work with her instead of the sailor scouts, who have yet to awaken, except for Sailor Venus. The generals have a debt to repay, considering their betrayal on the moon. i'm using concepts from the manga and the anime.

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"AWW! Come on Raye! Please?" Serena was whining again. Darien and Andrew leant on their respective sides of the counter in the arcade and watched the unfolding spectacle, amused. 

Serena "meatball head" Tsukino was begging Raye Hino for a job. It wasn't working.

"Come one Raye! I know you're grandpa always needs help! He's always asking girls to help!" she whined.

"No means no, Serena." Raye said tiredly, "besides, we have Chad to help out now."

"You said yourself that he's useless." Amy pointed out wickedly, enjoying the discourse immensely. Serena grinned at her friend with stars in her eyes, "thankyou Amy!" she turned back to Raye, "See! You said it yourself, Chad is useless!"

"He is not!" glowered Raye.

"Only cus you _like _him." Cut in Mina devilishly.

Before Raye could kill her, Darien decided to add his two cents worth.

"I think she just won't give Serena a job because she couldn't put up with meatball head day in day out." he commented.

Mina shot Darien a knowing look just then, as if she knew that _he _wouldn't mind being around the meatball head day in day out.a look he ignored.Raye grinned at him and Amy and Lita just rolled their eyes as if to say '_so immature!'_

"Who asked you, Chiba Baka?" Serena sneered, and then turned back to Raye, "aw, come on Raye!"

"Damnit Rena!" Raye growled, using her friends nickname, "you'd break everything in the place and read my manga's all day!"

"I so would not!"

"Would too!"

"Would not!"

"You would!"

"Would not!"

"You will!"

"Will not!"

"Will too!"

Then it degenerated, as it often did, into a raspberry war. Darien and Andrew laughed at the look on the other girl's faces, sympathetic.

Lita got sick of the blrrrghing and dragged the two apart, perhaps a little more forcefully than she needed to. Serena, being the lighter of the two, went further, and slammed into another customer, who happened to be carrying a chocolate milkshake. Everyone blocked their ears at the wail she sent up.

When it was safe to hear again, one by one everyone looked at the blond who was now sitting on the floor covered in chocolate milkshake, and whimpering. The dejected, defeated look on her face was so comical that one by one, the whole population of the arcade began to laugh. The four girls she always hung with collapsed against each other and Darien and Andrew leant on the long counter/bar for support as their eyes watered and knees wobbled.

Serena sat where she was, pouting with chocolate milk dripping from her nose, and a cherry in her hair. The poor lady she had bumped into was trying her best to mop up, and handed the girl a handful of serviettes.

Everyone laughed even more as she tried to stand and immediately slipped and fell. Serena, her cheeks now burning and her eyes wet with unshed tears of embarrassment, got to her feet again, and began to help the woman mop up, apologising all the time.

"Princess?" a loud, incredulous and somewhat angry male voice bought all laughter to a stop.

Serena, bending over to wipe brown milk from her jeans, froze. Darien, who had not turned to look at the newcomers, saw her eyes widen and the red flush totally disappear from her cheeks. She very, very slowly straightened and turned to look at the four men in the doorway of the arcade. They had entered, unnoticed in the midst of all the laughter.

They cut an impressive sight. The one who had spoken, a tall man with long white/silver hair and icy blue eyes was staring at Serena, perplexed and somewhat annoyed. Behind him a shorter man with long blond hair tied back in a ponytail stared at the blond in shock. Beside him a tall man with long brown hair that fell around his shoulders and sky blue eyes was trying hard not to look angry. Behind them a man with short blond hair was glaring at Serena as if she had somehow been responsible for her current state.

"This is what you have degenerated to?" demanded Malachite, unable to orientate the graceful and mature Princess he had met in the Silver Millennium wit the milkshake covered girl standing in front of him.

One by one, everyone in the arcade turned to Serena and got quite a shock. She was standing straight, and appeared taller than usual. Her fists were clenched at her sides but it was her eyes, those laughing blue eyes that were always full of happiness and laughter that had changed the most. No longer even holding a shred of amusement, and were now as icy as the man with white hair.

"I told you _never_ to come here." She said into the stillness. Her voice had changed too, and was hard and brittle.

"It was imperative. Time has run out and we need your help." Said Malachite quickly, glancing around the silent arcade uneasily, and wishing she wasn't going to confront him about it now.

Darien looked between them, confused, "What's going on?" he asked warily, not liking the looks on the four strangers faces, but absolutely hating the look on his bubbly Serena's face.

The men ignored him, and the one with long blond hair walked towards Serena. Darien watched as Serena four friends gathered at her back. The blond man didn't seem concerned, and Darien reflected that if Lita was glaring at him that way he would be worried.

"We need you to come with us, please Serena." He said quietly.

"There are other ways for you to communicate with me." Serena said softly, dangerously.

A look of worry and… _fear?_ Crossed the blond mans face. "But-"

Raye gasped suddenly, and everyone turned to look at her. "I sense evil!" she cried, eyes wide.

"That's it," said Lita, and reached for the blond mans shirt, assuming him to be the reason for the bad vibes.

She, and everyone else, was very surprised when a slender hand wrapped around her wrist and twisted it, sending her stumbling sideways. Serena glared at the brunette.

"The evil Raye feels does not come from these men." She said softly, releasing Lita's wrist. Lita took a wary step back, massaging the offending wrist. "They have never hurt anything on earth." This was a subtle hint at what the Generals owed her and her friends, and all four men winced. The general's betrayal had happened on the moon, not earth.

She turned to the blond guy with short hair, who had shut his eyes and seemed to be concentrating.

"Where is it, Jadeite?"

Raye's eyes went incredibly wide when she heard the name, and for some reason she found herself stifling a sob. A feeling of deep pain washed over her and she shivered uncontrollably, staring wildly at the man.

His eyes snapped open, "down the street."

As if in punctuation to their cryptic statement, the ground shook, and dust fell from the ceiling.

"Earthquake!" yelled Darien, ducking as the shaking began to get worse.

Serena, down on one knee with her hands over her head, shook her head. This was no earthquake.

An inhuman scream echoed all around them, a shattering accompaniment to the explosion that followed. It was close, Darien noted as he ducked plaster from the ceiling, close enough that they all felt the shockwave.

"What the hell was that?" demanded Lita as soon as the sound passed, getting to her feet and dragging Amy with her, face white with shock as well as plaster dust.

"Youma." Said Darien numbly, getting to his feet and wondering where he was going to transform into Tuxedo Mask.

He glanced towards Serena, and blinked in surprise as he watched her launch to her feet and towards where the three gentlemen were, or had been, he realised belatedly. They were gone. The blond one ran with her.

"What the?" he began, but ran after them, "SERENA! GET BACK HERE!"

The four girls, realising their friend had gone, ran after him, Andrew joining them.

When they got to the wide street that was a haven for shoppers and lovers alike, they found an empty street, except for Serena and the four men and one very, very tall youma. It was huge, its feet the size of cars and it looked like a dragon. It was tall enough that it could look in the windows of the five story buildings in the street. He heard Andrew swear softly in shock beside him.

The beast threw back its snake-like head and roared, and even that sound was enough to make the ground shake. It swung it huge snake like tail, and there was another ground jarring thump as the building flew sky-high, and landed as rubble. Darien grabbed Lita (who had been going to run to Serena who was still standing unprotected in the middle of the street) and pulled her back inside under the protection of the arcade's entry way as the rubble fell around them.

"NO!" she shrieked, "let me go! Serena! SERENA!"

Darien's own heart was breaking at the thought of Serena being out in the street with no protection.

The last piece of wall fell, and then there was silence. When the dust cleared, everything was silent except for the youma's heavy breathing. Darien stared wide-eyed at the scene in front of him.

Out in the centre of the street, five figures stood, unhurt and apparently unconcerned by the rubble that had fallen around them. The one with short blond hair was holding a hand up above his head, palm spread to the heavens, and appeared to be holding a shield up around them all. Serena was seemingly unconcerned by the magical barrier surrounding her and was just looking up at the beast (which was now slightly closer) with an amused look on her face.

"When will you lot ever learn?" she asked it mildly. Darien barely heard her, but apparently it had good hearing because a deep, growling and gurgling voice spoke.

"**When you are dead." **

Serena seemed amused still, and Darien watched as the four strange men moved to stand next to her.

"I am Malachite, defender of Earth." Announced the one with white hair.

"I am Nephrite, reader of the stars."

"I am Jadeite, the Seer of all things unnatural."

"I am Zoisite, Universal scholar and strategist."

There was silence, and then Serena added, "I am Serenity."

Malachite began to blow white.

Nephrite began to glow green.

Jadeite began to glow red, and Raye stared at him in recognition… she knew she had met him before… but where?

Zoisite began to glow blue.

Serena (serenity?) was glowing all the colours of the rainbow, but the colours seemed somehow muted, as if some of the vibrancy had been taken out of them, and all was left was pastel tints whirling around her, whipping her hair and skirt into a frenzy. For a second the lights glowed so bright everyone had to look away and when they returned their gaze there were five very well known figures standing in the street.

"Oh… my…" murmured Amy, eyes wide and mouth hanging open.

"The Generals! And Sailor Moon!" cried Raye in amazement, "Serena is Sailor Moon!" she cried in horror, suddenly realising what she was seeing meant.

Mina, who was watching proceeding with a calculative look gave her an odd glance, "Is it so hard to believe Raye? After all, what better disguise for a powerful and clever superheroinethan a klutzy blond?"

Everyone stared at her, unused to her making intelligent conversation.

Sailor Moon turned as if she had heard her, and smiled straight at her, "I think Sailor V would be a help right now, Mina."

"Sure." Mina got to her feet and clambered over to the rubble towards her friend.

The monster was having none of this, and turned slightly, bring up its tail.

With a roar and a lightening fast movement the tail sped towards Mina, but never got there. It was stopped instead by a wall of glowing white power, leaving welts and abrasions from the white hot magic on its scaly skin. Malachite wasn't about to let his old girlfriend get hurt.

Mina shot him a grateful look that made his heart ache before pulling out her red mask.

"SAILOR V TRANSFORM!" she bellowed.

Now Amy, Raye, Lita, Darien and Andrew watched open-mouthed as many different hues of orange lights glittered into being around the girl, and again it got so bright they had to look away. When they looked back, Sailor V was standing next to Sailor Moon.

The two girls grinned at each other before turning to the youma.

"This is gonna be fun."

AN; well I have arisen from months full of silence with a shortie. Hope you understand it. I may or may not continue it. We'll see. Depends what you guys want?


	2. Chapter 2

**AN; wow! Thanks very much for your reviews everyone! I love you all! Mwah! **

**THE SCOUTS DO NOT KNOW THAT THEY ARE SAILOR'S YET. MINA IS SAILOR V, THANKS TO ARTEMIS, (but has only just met sailor moon) AND SERENA WOKE UP ON HER OWN. **

**Basically the idea is that the scouts haven't awakened. The generals and tux and moony have. Sailor v is semi-awakened, and is beginning to remember things. Uhoh. It seems what was gonna be a shortie is turning out to be longer. Whoops. **

**Please note; Jadeite is spelt Jadeite but said Jedeite, okie? **

**Yeah. Right. I own Sailor Moon. Uhuh. I do, I really do! couch liar cough**

It had been one long week since Serena and Mina had transformed in front of them. After defeating the huge monster and making headlines in every tabloid around Sailor V, Sailor Moon and the Four Generals had disappeared. Or, at least, Darien hadn't seen them around, in either of their forms. There hadn't been anything on the news about them either.

Neither had Andrew, who was at the moment flirting with one of his usual customers. Darien watched lazily as Andrew blinded her with a smile and thought lazily that the girl was hooked, fish line and sinker. There was no escape for her now, none of them every escaped after Andrew smiled at them. He turned his attention back to the coffee in front of him and frowned. Where could Serena be? The girls had said she hadn't come to school over the last week. They seemed just as dumbfounded about it all as him. But Darien was feeling stupid in addition to the amazement that still went through him every time he saw something that reminded him of her. _Serena 'meatball head' Tsukino, the klutz and wailer of Tokyo, was Sailor Moon, defender of justice, righter of wrongs and wearer of a very short skirt. _

He was feeling remarkably stupid. As Tuxedo Mask and Darien he had come into contact with both Serena and Sailor Moon often. He had never made a connection. The hairstyle itself should have been enough. So should have been the time he had seen her hurt her leg in a battle. There was no mistaking _that _wail.

Serena finished her homework and sat back with a sigh, looking around the large study with a bored expression. Now there was no work to do, and nothing to take her mind of the confrontation that she knew was coming. Well, actually, there were two confrontations in the foreseeable future. One involved torture, pain, magic and almost certain death. But that wasn't the one she was worried about. Pain, destruction and magic she could handle, and considering that the last time she had died it hadn't been permanent she wasn't worried about death. She was worried about the day when she would have to walk up to Amy, Raye and Lita and tell them they were Sailor Scouts too. And _then_ she had to walk up to Darien and tell him, one, that he was her soul mate and two, that he was the rightful ruler of the entire earth. She could just imagine the look on her baka's face as she told him. He'd laugh in her face. Maybe she could get Malachite to do it, it might sound better coming from a male.

"Whatever you're thinking, it won't work."

Serena jumped and turned to glare at Jadeite. The youngest and her favourite of the generals grinned at her and threw himself down on one of the old leather chairs. Jadeite had been the first to cross her path after she remembered her old life. At first he hadn't had a clue who she was, or why she was so terrified of him but time went by and the next time she saw him, she could see it in his eyes that he knew what he had done.

"How do you know?" she challenged him, shutting her books and packing them away.

"I just know." He put a finger to each temple and pretended to read her mind. Although his face was laughing, his eyes were tired. She felt a stab of guilt. If she hadn't been in trouble, she wouldn't have had to call them all to help her. They might have been able to live totally ordinary lives this time round, no sailor scouts, no Queen Beryl, no trying to reconcile with the fact that they had killed the people that meant the most to them in their last lives. But none of that meant no love as well.

Looking at the weary face, Serena could see he hadn't been sleeping. But she laughed at his act anyway. "You're a twit, Jeddy." 'Jeddy' was her pet name for him, one he hated with a passion that rivalled his loathing of scrambled eggs.

On que he winced. "Don't call me that."

"Why not? It suits you so well!"

He sighed, and sat back in the chair to stare moodily at the carpet. He obviously wasn't in the mood to play with her. Serena watched him from her spot at the end of the richly decorated room and then said, "She's remembering you, Jed. I know you don't want to think about it, but she's always been quick on the uptake. You're going to need to come to grips with what you've done and decide what's best for her."

"_How the hell am I supposed to do that?"_ he cried, flinging his lanky body to its feet. "How the hell am I supposed to reconcile with the fact that I killed her?"

Serena remained silent and he began to pace in front of the fireplace. She watched his pale face apprehensively. He wasn't finished.

"I … I _killed_ her, Rena. I _murdered_ her." He placed his hands against the mantle and stared at the empty fireplace. "How… how am I supposed to get over that? I can still feel her pulse dying in my hands….." he clenched his fists.

Serena shut her eyes, trying to block the images she remembered. She had seen her scouts fall one by one. She swallowed the bile in her throat, and gathered her courage.

"Yes, you killed her, murdered her, just like the other guys did to the rest of my scouts."

He looked up at her, hurt.

"Dammit, Jed!" she exploded, "We all have issues with our past, but we were bought forwards in time for a reason! To make what went wrong right! That's why we're here! That's why we were given another choice! You can't not be there for Raye when she needs you. She knew then and she'll remember soon that you weren't yourself, and that you didn't have a choice. She'll forgive you."

"I think the point is, Rena, that he won't forgive himself." Malachite said from the doorway. He and the other two generals had been attracted by the noise, "and I must confess that I am having trouble in that department too. I cannot reconcile myself with what we did, nor can I believe that Mina and Endymion will forgive me either."

Jed, Zoi and Neph nodded in assent. Serena picked up a pencil and snapped it with two fingers. Just because she could.

"Do you think I don't know where you're coming from?" she asked quietly, and looked up at them angrily, "do you think I don't know what its like to lie awake _night after night_ and wonder where this is all going, what he's going to do and say when he finds out that I'm responsible for everything that happened, and that it was my fault?" she continued over their protests, "sure, there'll be problems to begin with, but you forget I can true dream the future sometimes."

"You've seen something?" asked Malachite hopefully.

Serena's smile was mischievous. "Only flashes, but positive ones."

_Except for the one involving me and Endymion._ She thought bitterly. "Besides," she added hurriedly, "we all owe it to them, and to Endymion, to work as hard as we can to get rid of Beryl _before _they fully awaken."

Lita was not sleeping well. For one thing, it was kinda hard to sleep above a quadruple lane highway, for another, she just couldn't seem to get her mind to shut down, and it was all his fault. Not that she knew his name. Or how old he was. Or where he hung out. Or where he was from. In fact, she didn't know anything about him. Well, no, that wasn't strictly true; she knew he was one of the Generals.

She rolled over and stared grumpily at the ceiling. One of the Generals. So totally unattainable and cute that all the girls in Tokyo were in love with him or his counterparts. Or tuxedo mask. And yet she was certain that he looked like one of her old boyfriends. But for the life of her she couldn't figure out which one. It was just a feeling.

She shoved back the blanket and rolled out of bed. If she couldn't sleep then perhaps a little mindless exercise would help. She pulled on running shorts and a t-shirt and left her quiet apartment and headed off into the quiet streets of Tokyo at a jog.

Heading down the street where the arcade was, and where she could still see ruined buildings against the skyline, Lita felt and odd feeling come over her. It was hard to describe, like a creeping heavy feeling that started at the back of her neck and spread slowly out across her shoulders. She slowed, and stopped, panting slightly and looked around.

Something was wrong. She didn't know what. But there was something in the air.

"Feels wrong somehow, doesn't it?" the voice came suddenly fro behind her.

Lita reacted with the instincts born of a girl who's fought all her life, swinging at the speaker with a punch. But the instant she recognised the voice she jerked all her muscles out of the smooth punch, and her fist swung higher than Serena's face.

Serena smiled as the punch sailed over her head with enough speed to ruffle her fringe. Her hair, Lita realised was no longer in its two buns, but a plait that hung down her back.

Lita stared at the shorter girl, eyes wide and still panting. Serena smiled still and cocked her head to one side. "You can feel it, cant you, Lita? How wrong the air is?"

Lita nodded. "I can feel it. What is it?"

"That's the Negaverse up to its old tricks. I'm glad you can feel it." Serena's smile was genuine. Lita frowned and wiped sweat of her forehead, "why?"

Serena shrugged, "Because you're better at sensing this stuff than me. Especially when the Negaverse is using the weather against us."

"I am? They are?"

Serena laughed. "Too many questions. Where do you think it's coming from?"

Lita had questions, Serena could see them in her eyes, but true to her old form, she put her friends request first and looked around herself, almost listening to the night.

"That way." She said confidently, pointing in the direction of Tokyo tower.

Serena smiled so widely her mouth hurt, "That's great Lita! And of course, you're correct. You coming along for the ride?"

Lita stared at her as they began to jog. Serena's face was looking tired, but there was a look in her eyes that told Lita she wasn't really feeling it.

"If you've got question, ask them now." Serena said over their pounding feet.

"Why am I coming with you?"

"That's a question you can answer!"

"Where are the generals?"

"They're busy sleeping."

"They're not helping you?" Lita asked in amazement as they sped up.

"Not this time. Sailor V might be coming though. Anyway, I have you." She was joking, but Lita wasn't in the mood for it. No sleep will do that to you.

"What help am I against magical creatures?" Lita snapped, "I can't zap 'em with power or anything!"

At the word 'zap' Serena had looked across at her, her face going pale instantly, "Oh, shit, Lita please tell me that you're not having dreams that are out of a fairytale!"

Lita stopped running so suddenly that Serena had to double back a couple of steps. Tokyo tower loomed over them menacingly.

"How…" Lita shut her mouth, swallowed and tried again. "How did you know?"

Serena was pale still, and was opening her mouth to reply when a crash overhead caught her attention.

Lita looked up too; saw a metal beam rocketing towards them through the night. She shut her eyes, waiting for impact.

The next instant, she felt the wind get knocked out of her as something hit her stomach. Then there was nothing but rushing air, and then a jolt under her feet.

She opened her eyes. She was standing halfway up the Tokyo tower. She slowly turned her head and stared at the girl next to her. Serena had turned into Sailor Moon and was standing silently behind her, looking downwards. Lita followed her gaze, and thought she saw something move out of the corner of her eye, but when she tried to focus on it it was gone.

"Lita, I think you need to get out of here."

"What?" Lita cried, "But - !"

Sailor Moon grabbed her by the arm of her shirt, "Listen to me Lita, I'm thinking in long run terms here. I need you and the girls to stay away from me and these things for as long as possible, because the time will come when you have no choice, and I'm trying to stave that off for your own good for as long as possible, ok?"

Lita stared at her, "what do you mean I won't have a choice?"

Sailor Moon just shook her head, "go!" and gave Lita a shove.

Lita went, but only a few steps, before stopping and looking back. Sailor Moon was standing at the edge of the wooden platform, looking down. As Lita watched, she held her arms out at her sides, in shrug that she held as she fell forwards. She disappeared from Lita's sight, and an instant later I silent explosion of light and power and heat washed over Lita, drying her mouth and pushing her back. When she looked over the edge a second later, she couldn't see either Sailor Moon or the monster that had apparently been there.

"That's what's she said?"

"That's what she said." Lita confirmed. Raye, Amy, Darien and Andrew had listened to her tale with wonder.

"What the hell was that supposed to mean?" grumbled Raye, "We have to stay away from the youma, and we'll have no choice about what?"

"Don't ask me!" Lita grumbled, sliding further down into her chair, "I told you everything that happened. And there's no way we can get in touch for her. The address I have for her is wrong, and when Amy hacked into he school computer she couldn't find any records of Serena at all."

Amy blushed, "quiet Lita, I don't want the whole world to know I did that. Its illegal."

"Dammit" muttered Darien, "I wish she'd appear more often so we could get a chance to talk to her. Even the Generals would do."

The others agreed wholeheartedly.

Serena looked out the window of the study, nursing her hurt arm. The Youma at the tower had not been a difficult one, but she had been careless and had gotten herself hurt. She looked out at the warm night and wished she was out there partying or something similar. But there were certain responsibilities needed to be taken care of here at HQ while Luna and Artemis were away. Namely, keeping an eye on their house and running scans for any negative energy activity. She didn't think there'd be another attack tonight, but they youma at the tower had not had a purpose to fulfil, and that worried her. Beryl did not needlessly expend energy. **_Ever._**

Her smooth features creased into a worried frown. The emergency hat the Generals had felt coming had not come to be. The youma at the tower had no purpose- she knew because when in her Sailor Form she could sense things in people, emotions mostly, but purpose always came with a sense of surety that the youma had not had. An idea popped into her mind. What if Beryl was trying to bait her, to force her into waking the memories of the scouts and their power and thereby ensuring she, serenity, was more secure?

Her face hardened. Well it wouldn't work. She had had to be cajoled and threatened into using her power to unlock all of the generals memories from where they had been hidden deep in her friends subconscious. Luna and Artemis had not been as forgiving of the generals, or at least, not as understanding as she. But then, they had never felt the power of the Negaverse controlling their every move. Serenity had. Artemis had been the worst, and to a certain extent still was. He had always felt a special bond with Mina, treating her like a daughter more than a pupil and at her murder one thousand years ago had felt responsible. The result was that he did not speak to Malachite, and usually ignored the other generals unless it was absolutely necessary.

Luna was a little more understanding of Serena's awkward position between the two 'sides' and tried to ac as a go between when she could. Serena sighed. She missed having Luna around when her guardian went on these long missions. But it was for the best, she reminded herself suddenly.

The doorbell rang.

Serena jumped, and ran downstairs quickly.

Mina was at the door.

"Hi!" said the blond brightly when Serena stopped and stared.

"Mina!" cried Serena, and hugged her friend, still in total shock. "How did you know to come here?"

Mina scratched her head, "well, to be honest, I don't think you'll believe me."

Serena raised an eyebrow wryly as she picked up Mina's luggage (apparently her friend was staying), "you'd be surprised."

"Well, alright." Said Mina, but stopped and stared at the interior of the house. "This place is wicked cool!"

"yeah." Said Serena absent mindedly, "it is." Then she blinked and shook her head, "who told you to come here?"

"It's gonna sound dumb, but I a cat told me. A white one."

Serena's mouth dropped open. "It doesn't sound dumb at all." She assured her friend.

**AN; well, there you go. I hope things are a little clearer. But not too clear. Next chapter; why did the generals come and get serenity in the first place? That is the event that sparked all of this to begin with. Stay tuned and find out! **

**To my reviewers; much love to you all!**

**Momocolady;** well long time no… er… hear. Thanks an stay tuned!

**Starlit Warrior**; whee! An old friend! thanks very much and god bless you too!

**Sky Unicorn;** ooo! Another old friend! hope you like what's happening so far. The generals and sailor moon are meant to have a sibling like relationship, do you think its working?

**Tenshisailor;** yes! The generals get to be the good guys! At last! The title has to do with the klutzy blond act/habit that Serena used to make people think she wasn't sailor moon, and not even close. God bless you too!

**Light of an Angel**; thanks very much for the praise I hope you like this chappie!

**Catasa;** heres the more you were asking for! Hope you like!

**Allieb13**; heres the more you wanted! Your tantrum scared me enough to write quickly!

**Ffgirlmoonie**; more old friends! Yay! nah, Amy Raye and Lita have to earn their stripes this time round. Well actually, not true, Serena is hoping they won't have to wake their scout forms and memories. She's hoping the generals and Luna and Artemis will be enough to combat beryl.

**Ishq;** the generals ignored Darien because they don't want him to remember what they did as well as get involved with fighting beryl. Do you think the generals should be forgiven easily for wat they did? I don't! they're gonna have to earn their forgiveness every step of the way.

**Erika Currier**; they didn't know about Serena and Mina, and they aren't the scouts yet. They have dreams about their past but other than that they are normal people. Sorry for not making it clear.

**Random;** thanks for the original comment, I don't get many of those,. Maybe its because I'm writing fanfic, eh? &&!

**Princess Silverstar**; the rest of the girls aren't scouts yet. Min knows only that Serena is Sailor Moon. As for Luna and Artemis, well you just met them!

**Friends1004**; I really should have made it clearer, eh? The girls (Amy, Raye and Lita) don't have their powers yet. Mina is only sailor V, not Venus yet. And yes! You must have read my mind! Darien will have his traditional roses, but much more too! Stay tuned to find out what!

**Jenrya**; she's great when's she's klutzy, but it does get annoying. Yeah, the anime would have been much better if she was more serious more often. The manga has her more serious, with only minor klutz attacks every now and then. As for rini I think perhaps that whole series could have been better.

**Rin;** I can understand you fine! No, the girls don't know that they're sailor scouts yet. Hope you enjoy it!

**Rosa lunae**; well I had too many ideas NOT to continue it so I just HAD to keep going! hey! Watcha doing reading my crap? Continue your stories!

**Endy's Girl**; Endy's Girl? Where'd the name come from? Hope you liked this chappie!

**Tigerrr;** here ya are! Enjoy!

**Chriss**; her ya go! Tell me what you think!

**Pip-2250**; I thought it was about time that the generals were good. Tell me if you think I haven't got their characters right!

**Silver Crystal Tears**; hides from pitchfork I updated! I updated! Don't hurt me!

**Strange107**; updated!

**Sleepy26;** I have continued! Here you go!

**Missprongs07**; im glad you liked it, whatcha think of this chapter?

**Silver Moonlight-81**; here ya go! Enjoy and review!

**Courtney;** thanks! Hope you liked it!

**EoAngel;** intelligent comment? I don't need those! I'm not intelligent enough to understand them myself!

**Royal bluekitsune**; updated! Thanks for the review!

**The Spiked Dragon**; thanks for the review!

**Relyan;** why thank you! Whatcha think? I need plot ideas! -- !

**Shy Girl1988**; now heres a familiar name! I'm glad you liked it! The senshi and the generals are really the only way to go! Thanks for staying with me all through princess plan!

**X00001;** thanks for the review! Its good to hear from my old friends!

**Sailorstars16**; I'm glad you laughed. I was trying to make it slightly more comic than my usual because people told me I was a dark writer. ! I liked your story so far!

**Faerex;** the girls aren't the scouts yet and no, they didn't know she was sailor moon.

**Elementalmoon;** your wish is my command! Here you go!

**Fantasywriter13**; waves magic wand here's the new chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

Serena glared at the ceiling in her room. Luna and Artemis had gone against her orders when they had sent Mina here, and though she was happy for the company (all the generals had had to go away for their respective jobs, all of them in the army) Luna and Artemis were supposed to follow her orders, after all they knew why she issued them. She and Mina had shared stories of their time as scouts that night, and while Serena had enjoyed it at the time, now she was tucked up in bed she was worried she had said too much. Mina had bee intensely curious about the generals, especially Malachite, but Serena had made it clear she wouldn't talk about them and after a little prodding Mina had given up and sulked. She hadn't changed much; not really, she'd always sulk when she didn't get her way.

But telling her about her experiences as Sailor Moon had not been a good idea. Serena never wanted to see the scouts fight again, die again, she hadn't even wanted the Generals to fight again, but they were not really her to command, and would do as they pleased mostly. They wanted to fight, to protect their loved ones, like she did. She could not fault them, nor stop them from joining her. Besides, she was secretly glad of the help.

She sighed, suddenly feeling very alone. She didn't want the scouts to fight, didn't even want to fight herself. But she had to, to keep Endymion and her friends safe. But to tell Mina more about what was truly going on… as she had done…. It was just inviting her friends to remember. And Venus would not be as easily controllable as the generals. She would not let Serena protect the scouts, would argue that the scouts reason for existing was to protect the Moon Princess/Moon Line. But Serena disagreed, so did the Generals. The Scouts had done enough fighting last time round. Now, it was Serenity's turn to keep them safe.

She had been careful, oh, so careful, to not give them a hint of what she was while she had been living with them, but she had always been watching and waiting… she knew Beryl would find them sooner or later, so she stayed close and kept watch. Now she had to do it secretly because her identity was no longer a secret, and if they asked her questions, she would answer, and they would remember and fight.

She did not want that.

She sighed, and rolled over to try and sleep again.

* * *

Raye glared at the fire in front of her. One and a half weeks and it had told her nothing of Sailor Moon or the Generals. She had been asking everyday, at least once a day. But the fire kept giving her the same words, '_fire and fire will meet'._ It meant nothing to her, and she had asked the other girls, and it meant nothing to them either. Even Darien hadn't been able to shed any light on the situation, but he was almost always distracted now. She couldn't even get him to look at her.

With a frustrated growl she strode out of the room, her red traditional Shrine garb flowing out behind her.

It had changed to night while she had been inside, and she shivered silently as a breeze ruffled her raven hair. Above her, one of her pet crows cawed a warning, and she put her hand into her pocket to finger the scroll there. It was an especially powerful one, one her grandpa had made her promise to keep with her at all times. She walked quietly along the deck, wondering what her friends the ravens had seen. She couldn't hear or see anything.

The next instant a wave of heat washed over her and threw her backwards through one of the paper shrine screens. She didn't have time to scream or even blink before a youma the shape of a dog was leaping through the ruined screen after her. It raised a wickedly long clawed paw and brought it down towards her. Raye screamed and rolled out of the way.

But she needn't have worried. A gleaming sword wreathed in flame and with a ruby in the hilt had met the claws with a crash. Jadeite glared at the beast, a deep hot anger crawling through him. He broke the locked weapons apart and swung sideways, aiming for the beast's side. The beast met him again, it's dripping jaws only inches away from his face.

Raye watched in horror, crouched near the only solid wall of the room and tried to tear her eyes away from the blond General, but something deep inside her wouldn't let her.

Jadeite struggled with the weight of the beast against him, gritting his teeth with effort.

"Raye?" Raye looked towards the sound, _her grandfather was coming!_

"Grandpa!" she screamed, "please don't come in here!"

Too late, the little old man had come round the corner, and was frozen in horror as he beheld the great wolf-like monster.

The youma took its chance of an easy prey, and charged the shrine master. Raye screamed. The little man shut his eyes.

Again, she needn't have worried. But this time it was Sailor Moon who came to the rescue, hoisting the old man out of the way by his shirt in instant before the beast's claws cut him into shreds. When Raye looked up the old man was sitting at the heroine's feet looking rather flabbergasted.

Jadeite was enraged now, and was holding the pommel of his sword so tight it hurt.

"Hey, Jadeite, can you handle this? There's another at the hospital."

Jadeite nodded, blue eyes cold.

Sailor Moon looked at the beast almost pityingly, _A Wulven. She isn't wasting any time. Selene help us. _She thought. "Its weakness is its jaw, Jed, good luck."

Jadeite nodded again without taking his eyes of the monster.

Sailor Moon shot Raye a wink and a grin, and suddenly Raye saw the real Serena in there, and gave a weak smile in return. Sailor Moon jogged towards the shine steps and disappeared.

Jadeite turned to the monster, which had fixed its eyes on him after Sailor Moon's departure.

"Attacking a shrine is bad enough." He growled, "But attacking my shrine mistress is unforgivable. You are so beneath my contempt you are not even worthy of a name!"

The wolf like creature laughed –actually laughed- "give me the rainbow crystal!" a deep gravely voice spoke out, and it took both Raye and Jadeite a second to realise that the wolf like thing could speak.

Jadeite snarled and leapt forward, and the beast met his sword with its teeth, and swinging out with its claws. A huge paw raked Jed's arm and he grunted before throwing all his weight onto his flaming sword and driving the beast back.

Blood dripped to the ground and Jed made a note not to slip on it.

There was a space of about four steps between them now, enough for Jed to attack properly. He pointed his sword at the youma and said;

"Goodbye."

The flames that had wreathed his sword now shot forwards to engulf the beast in orange and red fire. It screamed and writhed, and then leapt at him, claws outstretched. Jadeite ducked and rolled sideways, and then as quick as lightning swung his sword back and stabbed the Wulven through the heart.

The flames disappeared as the beast crumbled to dust.

Raye, standing next to her grandpa went weak with relief, and collapsed to her knees.

Jadeite sheathed his sword and looked across at them, eyes twinkling, even though he was covered with dust and blood.

He bowed, and Raye caught her breath, and in her minds eye she saw;

_The man with short blond hair bowed, "may I be of any assistance, Lady Mars?" _

_He stood with a smile, eyes twinkling, knowing the answer. _

"_I am perfectly capable of carrying my own luggage thankyou!" Raye heard her own voice say spiritedly. _

_He laughed. _

And then the moment was gone, and Raye was back at the shrine, staring at the spot where he had been, holding back tears and sobs of pain. it felt as if her heart would break, and she didn't know why.

"Where'd he go?" she cried, and her Grandfather, now over by the wrecked shrine screens frowned at her.

In her pocket, the fire scroll sat unused.

* * *

Sailor Moon landed lightly on the roof of the hospital and looked down into the street, twenty stories below.

Not one, not tow, but three Wulven were terrorizing the street. It didn't appear that they had killed anyone yet, but she knew from past experience with Wulven that it was just a matter of time.

Her wrist communicator, which took the form of an earring at her transformation, beeped.

With a frustrated sigh she thumbed it on, moving to the ledge of the building.

"it said it wanted the rainbow crystal, Sere, do you know what it means?" Jed's voice came through, clear as a bell.

Sailor Moon felt the blood drain from her face.

_No. not already. Please no. she can't. Not yet!_

"Sere?" Jed's voice came through puzzled.

"I'm busy. Talk later." She said shortly, and stepped of the edge of the building.

* * *

Darien was in a closet. And not just any closet, either. This one was full of towels and linen, both old and new. It was conveniently large enough for him to hide in, though the smell of old linen made him gag; it was a good place to transform in.

And that's what he did.

A couple of seconds later he was throwing roses at the odd doglike youma that had appeared in the street outside. They had lost no time in inciting a panic in the hospital, and more people had been hurt in the rush of bodies than the actual attack.

A youma leapt at him, and he threw a cape full of roses and then his cane. It didn't kill the beast, but it sent it flying backwards into some rubble, roses sticking out of its side.

He felt a sharp burning pain in his shoulder, and the next instant his shoulders hit the ground with a crack. He blinked back stars, felt a weight on his chest and looked into the dripping jaws of death.

People screamed. Another piece of wall fell from somewhere.

Bright white light seemed to surround him and suddenly the beast on top of him howled, and the weight was gone.

He rolled to his side, and watched in amazement as Sailor Moon, who had presumably just sent a burst of power into the beast's side, met its rearing claws with a spinning kick that sent it flying.

He scrambled to his feet, saw another one coming… heading for Sailor Moon and unleashed everything he had on it, and glittering roses cut into the beast, and it collapsed into dust. Feeling drained, he bent to pick up his cane.

Sailor Moon threw her tiara and the Wulven she was fighting disintegrated. The people nearby cheered.

She had seen tuxedo mask deal with the second, and now turned to find the third. She couldn't see it, anywhere.

"LOOK OUT!" tux called out, his voice hoarse with fear for her.

Sailor Moon spun, looking up. Time slowed. It was coming through the air towards her, claws outstretched, deadly, mouth gaping and eyes glowing. Her eyes went wide.

She held up her hands, throwing the tiara, too late.

It hit her, claws digging deep into her torso, and its teeth sunk into her shoulder. Her head whipped back and her shoulders hit cement.

She shut her eyes in pain and screamed, and slammed her fist into the glowing eye above her. It loosened its agonizing grip on her shoulder.

"You bastard!" she snarled, and pulled every single bit of strength she had into one last attack,

"Moon Dust Explosion!"

It was not an attack she used much, but it was good for close quarters combat.

Glowing flecks of dust coursed out of her hand and landed softly on the youma, and it screamed as it began to disintegrate as each acidic mote ate away its flesh.

Sailor Moon gagged on the smell, and shoved the beast away, and rolled as far as she could, and lay there, on her stomach, and watched it crumble to dust.

She shivered, suddenly cold. Looking around, she saw a mist enveloping the street. It felt wrong. "Mist at this time of day?" she wondered, her voice coming out as a croak barely above a whisper.

"There's something down the other end of the street." Tux bent down next to her, and surveyed her damage. "You shouldn't move!" he said worriedly as she shifted to get a better look down the street, and carefully placed a hand on her uninjured shoulder, "your wounds are nasty."

"Aren't they always?" she grumbled, but stilled.

Tux heard a noise down the end of the street and looked up.

There was a woman walking towards him, just a shadow in the mist. He felt a thrill of fear, and then felt a protective urge rise in him. He bent and gathered up the blond girl in his arms carefully, ignoring her complaints.

"Something's coming." He hissed, and she quieted. He looked towards the shadow, and then began to back away.

"Afraid of me, prince?" came a soft, light voice from the mist, which was now thicker.

Sailor Moon felt every ounce of blood on her face drain away, and her insides turn to ice.

_No! It's her! _She stiffened.

Tux had paused, puzzled by the paradox between the harmless sounding voice and the danger he felt.

"Go!" hissed Sailor Moon, her good arm gripping his shirt. Feeling the warmth of her hand almost as a wake up call Tux moved away from the shadow in the gathering mist. He walked swiftly over the rubble, barely feeling the weight of the girl in his arms, only the warmth of the hand that was holding his shirt.

Every step he took was agony for Sailor Moon, but she clenched her teeth shut, and refused to cry. She was a warrior Dammit and would not cry, and would not loose!

She pressed her earring, using her bad hand, unwilling to let go of tux. She tapped the earring three times. That was the signal between her and the generals, the alarm, the call for help. She had never used it before. She was hated to call them now, to fight the evil woman Beryl, but they had to. They had to. She could not put Endymion in danger.

**AN; righto, sorry guys, but I had to go away for a bit and didn't have access to a pc. sigh anyway, I hope you like this one! Have I done Raye and Jed right do you think? Sorry, no replies to reviewers today… too lazy!**


	4. Chapter 4

Tuxedo Mask carried her to the entrance to the hospital, thankfully fairly intact compared to the other buildings around them. He wasn't entirely sure how the youma that he and Sailor Moon had just defeated had created so much damage, but then again, now wasn't really the time to wonder. Sailor Moon was in a bad way. He set her on the ground carefully, not liking the paleness of her face, and rolled his cape up and put it under her head.

"Come on out, my prince, I won't hurt you." The soft voice said, and the mist curled around, blocking most of the street from sight.

Sailor Moon shivered.

"I'm the one from your dreams, you know. The ones where the girl asks you for the crystal. That's me, I've been waiting for so long for you to come to me."

Sailor Moon gasped at the audacity of the evil woman, "watch it, Beryl, I might take offence." She ground out.

At the name Beryl, Tux stiffened, something inside him ringing a cacophony of alarm bells.

"You're in no condition to even talk, let alone take offence."

The voice was closer now. Tux frowned and moved closer to Sailor Moon, protectively standing between her and the mist and the owner of that horribly sweet voice. He was under no illusions about the woman of his dreams; she didn't exist, though how this thing in the mist knew he dreamt of a woman asking for a crystal he didn't know. And Sailor Moon was scared; he could see it in her eyes, pure terror deeply hidden in the blue irises, but there. So he stood between her and the mist, though all he really wanted to do was collapse.

Sailor Moon felt tears start to form in her eyes when he stepped in front of her, getting between her and the mist. Same old Endymion. And he was dreaming about the crystal and a girl? That worried her; he must be closer to fully awakening than she thought. Not good at all.

She pushed herself shakily to her feet and gripped his dirty gloved hand with her good one. He started and turned to her, confusion in his blue eyes.

"We have to get out of here; neither of us should even get near her, let alone fight her." She said quietly, but Beryl heard anyway, and laughed, a high tinkling laugh that sent shivers up and down both their spines.

"Fear me, do you, little princess? I thought you were the great fearless Serenity. Or at least that's what I've been told. It's sad how gossip sets a person up to be worse than they are."

Sailor Moon laughed harshly, her fingers tightening around Tux's hand, "in your case, Beryl, I think the gossips don't know the half of what you've done."

She muttered something under her breath and white light surrounded them. Tux felt a jerk, saw a bright flash and suddenly he was standing the park, looking around in amazement.

"How…" he began… but stopped when Sailor Moon collapsed with a groan, spinning to catch her gently just in time.

Lying in his arms she managed a weak smile, "sorry, but she… leads… negaverse. Can't let … near… evil." She faded into unconsciousness, going horribly limp.

Tux sighed, "Now what am I to do with you?" he asked, "I should get back to the hospital. I am a doctor, after all."

Hoisting her into a better position against his chest he looked around, and sighed. "Home I guess."

* * *

Malachite arrived first, and looking at the mist felt his insides twist with nausea. She was here. 

"Mal?" Jed appeared beside him, looking the worse for wear, with a torn and bloody sleeve.

"It's Beryl." Malachite said quietly. Jed went very still, and Malachite watched the blood drain from his face.

"Already?" asked Nephrite, coming up behind them.

"She's using a lot of energy. That's not like her." Said Zoi, popping up beside them, ignoring his own deep seated fear and analysing the mist carefully.

"Ah, my loyal generals." Beryl's deceptively soft voice echoed around them, and they all jumped, "I did not expect to see you here."

Malachite swore softly, backing away from the mist.

"This is not good." Muttered Jed and a thought struck him, "where's Sailor Moon?"

There was a beat of silence, as they realised they did not now, and looked at each other, horrified.

"You don't think-" began Nephrite,

"She and the price have left already. Neither of them was in any condition to fight." Beryl appeared in front of them, eyes glowing softly and her hair floating eerily.

"Get back!" snarled Malachite and threw a sliver of power at her, and it would have got her through the chest if she had still been there, but she had disappeared.

"Let's get out of here." said Zoi, voce high with fear, searching for the evil queen.

"Dammit, we're Generals of Earth!" Malachite snarled at him, "We have to fight!"

"How can you fight what you can't see?" asked Beryl from behind him, and he spun, but she was gone again.

The mist had closed around them now. It was cold, and Malachite pulled his cloak tighter around himself.

"I'm sure you all know what my specialty is." Beryl's voice echoed again, amused, "considering you spent so much time with me."

_She's going to use our worst fears against us! _Malachite realised, his jaw dropping in horror.

Everything went black, and suddenly all he could hear was screams not his own. They belonged to Mina. He could see her too, her sword in her hand. She was screaming as she watched her friends die. And then she turned to him, eyes cold, "I hate you. You disgust me! I cant believe I ever thought I loved you! Youre a worthless piece of trash!" she yelled.

He collapsed to his knees, her voice echoing through his head. _No, please no! _He cried silently, gripping his head. His greatest fear was that Mina would reject him.

Beside him Zoisite was screaming Amy's name again and again. He had seen her go into battle on his strategic advice, and die along with the other scouts. His greatest fear was that Amy would die acting on his advice, that his knowledge would fail him and she would die because of it.

Nephrite was shrieking, gripping his head, as in his minds eye he saw himself killing Lita again and again, watching the light die from her eyes again and again. He heard his own voice laugh evilly, again and again. His greatest fear was that he would become evil again, and hurt Lita again.

Jadeite was howling, low and deep in his throat, as he watched the fire that was so much a part of his life and Raye's too burn her house to the ground with her inside. He could hear her screaming; feel the smoke burning his eyes. It was so real. His greatest fear was that an accident like this would take her from him.

Beryl, watching them write, laughed. "You are almost mine now, yet again." She sneered at what she though were weaklings.

* * *

A couple of blocks away, Tuxedo Mask, who had just deposited Sailor Moon on his couch, felt a deep pain in the back of his hand, and let out a little 'ah' of pain, staring in amazement as a cut opened across the top of his hand, and began to bleed. 

"What the…" he murmured, and suddenly he heard something that did not belonging in his tidy apartment.

Screams. Shrieks. Male voices calling for help. He looked around, puzzled, "How…"

Sailor Moon woke suddenly, eyes clear and blue. She sat up swiftly, seeing the cut.

"Blood brothers." She murmured, eyes widening, "They need help!"

"What? Who?" he demanded, stepping back as she got shakily to her feet.

"The Generals! They must've met Beryl again!" her voice sounded panicky.

"The woman in the mist?" he asked, watching as she went to the window, "I don't think you should be moving." He added.

"Oh piffle," she threw over her shoulder at him, and he watched in amazement as her uniform glowed for an instant. When the light faded, the fuku was undamaged and unstained.

"My fuku is like renewable. I can't heal my wounds, but I can heal my fuku, and that gives me an edge, because it blocks most attacks."

She opened the door to his little balcony, and looked back, "you coming?"

Beryl called her dark crystal to hand, grinning like a maniac. Stupid Sailor Moon had not awoken the scouts; therefore, the Generals were weak because of their emotional trouble. Now their weakness was her advantage, she could use them again. They would be useful in the search for the rainbow crystals and the seven shadow warriors.

Holding the crystal high above her head, she asked Metallia for more power.

That was when Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon arrived.

"Help the generals. I'll take care of Beryl." Sailor Moon ordered.

Any other time Tux would have asked what right she had to order him, but something in her face made him creep towards the four men on the ground, surrounded by a crawling black miasma. They were screaming still.

"What the hell am I supposed to do?" he muttered under his breath, stopping just out of reach of the miasma. The one with white hair was closest to him, and was strangely silent, but one look at the mans face told him he was near insane with pain and fear. Taking a deep breath he reached out with his bleeding hand and touched Malachite's shoulder.

It was amazing how quickly it happened. The black mist that had been swirling around Malachite disappeared in a rush of air and shadow, leaving the man on his knees and trembling, but no longer seeing the horrible vision of Mina.

Malachite felt the hand squeeze his shoulder and looked across, and felt his breath freeze.

"Endymion!"

And it was true. The instant he had touched Malachite, Tuxedo Mask had disappeared, and now Endymion was crouched next to the head General in his gold and black armour with a long black cape and his sword at his side.

"I know that's my name, but I still can't remember anything of you people." Endymion said softly.

Malchite's eyes widened. Endymion squeezed his shoulder again and then moved to Jadeite, gripping his shoulder too, and bringing the blond general out of his own visions. He then moved on to Nephrite and Zoisite.

Beryl watched this in horror. When Zoisite got to his feet to greet the Prince, she screeched "This shall not be so!" and called her power to her, eyes glowing red.

She slammed her arms forward, and a blaze of black power careened towards the five men, who turned to meet the blast head on.

But a wall of blindingly white power flew up between them and the blast.

Beryl, recognised the power immediately, screamed in rage, and threw another blast into the wall.

Sailor Moon, holding her arms out in front of her, bracing her shield, winced as the blast struck her barrier, and dug her heels into the ground to hold her position. But Beryl kept up her attack, and she slowly slid back, her dark red boots unable to get any traction on the cement.

_Come on Serenity!_ She thought wildly, shutting her eyes and thinking hard. An idea popped into mind,

"Generals! Attack when I lower the shield!" she shrieked at them over the roar of Beryl's next attack.

The Generals had already been readying their attacks.

Sailor Moon turned her head back to glare towards Beryl. _By the stars I hope this works! _

"NOW!" she yelled, and slammed the shield down, and hit the dust herself an instant later as fire, ice, petals (gah! What else can I do for zoi?) and a stream of razor sharp stars screamed overhead into Beryl. Endymion threw his own attack, a golden ball of power.

Beryl shrieked as the attack slammed into her, but it was more angry than painful.

When the dust cleared she was bent double, panting, but very much alive.

"Is that the best you can do?" she sneered as Sailor Moon got to her feet, "perhaps I would be better of to use the scouts as my agents instead of you weaklings." This was directed at the Generals, all of whom looked pale but resolute.

"In fact," she continued as Sailor Moon opened her mouth to say something, "that's what I just might do."

"Bitch!" Snarled Sailor Moon, eyes hard, and pulled every single last shred of energy from her already depleted reserves and threw a blindingly white attack of pure power at the red head.

It hit her square in the chest, and she screamed and disappeared.

Sailor Moon stared at the spot where she had been, and then, very slowly, collapsed to her knees.

Before anyone could move she looked over her shoulder and said, "We need to get the scouts to the safety of the mansion. I can't help… I …" she fell sideways, unconscious.

Malachite took charge, "Jed, Zoi, Neph, go get your girls. Mina is already staying at the mansion and I'll take Endymion and Sailor Moon there and you meet us there when you can."

The three generals nodded and disappeared. Malachite turned to find Endymion holding the unconscious Sailor Scout.

He smiled.

"Follow me."

* * *

Raye sighed as she pasted the paper to the screen again. She was good at this; she had to do it a lot, paper screens were easy to break. But her mind wasn't really on her task. She kept thinking about her saviour of that afternoon. His eyes… so special, so familiar… and hot damn! 

She flushed and hung her head, stopping her work for the moment. And even though she had had a scroll in her pocket that she could have stopped the monster with, all she had done was stand there and scream.

She sighed and pressed her head to the newly papered screen in front of her. She felt like such a failure. She had always prided herself on being able to react to any situation, to be on top of anything. And all she had done was stand there.

"Stupid. Stupid!" she muttered, and her fingers made little holes in the paper screen. Noticing the holes, she let out an enraged snarl and punched the screen, effectively flattening it.

"Whoa." She muttered, and stared at her hand… had she really hit it that hard? Surely not.

"More strength than I gave you credit for, Raye Hino."

Raye spun. Standing on the ground near the shrine fountain was a blue skinned woman, scantily dressed and with black eyes.

"What the…?" Raye said. Then her Phobos and Demos (her crows for those of you who don't know) called a warning, and she felt evil.

She pulled the scroll from her pocket and called down her power.

"FIRE SCROLL FREEZ!" she bellowed, and threw the scroll. A bright red glow infused the woman, who yelped and tried to fight it of, but it froze her. Raye stared in amazement. Her power had never been red… she'd never even been able to see it…

"PHYSIC WHIRLWIND!" yelled a male voce, and a dark whirlwind swam into existence around the frozen nega monster, who screamed and crumbled to dust.

There was a thump, and Raye jumped. The General was beside her, still in a crouch from his landing. He seemed even worse for wear than when she had last seen him; his sleeve, damaged earlier, was now hanging by a thread, showing blood underneath. His eyes were tired, and there were taut lines around his mouth.

"You again!" she growled, unaccountably angry that he had been fighting without her, which made no sense since she was no fighter, "why is it every time there's trouble I get you?"

"Ordained destiny I guess." He said tiredly and straightened. Raye realised with a gulp that he was taller than her and far too close. She took a hurried step backwards, heat rising in her cheeks.

He grinned, as if he knew what she was thinking.

"I've been instructed to bring you to Sailor Moon." He stated, sheathing his sword.

"What!"

"She'd like to talk to you."

"Then she can come here and talk to me!" Raye snapped.

"She can't do that, you see, she's not very well at the moment."

"What? What happened to her?" Raye's anger at being summoned was immediately forgotten, replaced by worry about her friend.

Jadeite smiled, and then laughed, "By the stars, you haven't changed at all. Same old Mars, acting as if you don't care, and deep down you care so much it hurts."

Raye was struck dumb and stared at him wildly.

"She's a bit tired at the moment, and was injured in at the hospital." He explained, "So, Mars, would you come with me?

It was the second time he had called her that, and Raye frowned, even as she reached to take his outstretched hand, "why do you call me that?"

"Because it's what you are." Jadeite clasped his hand around hers and the next instant she was hurtling through darkness but knowing she was safe because there was a pair of strong arms wrapped tightly around her. The rest of his sentence was ringing in her ears;

"It's what made me love you."

* * *

"Just lemme get this straight." Lita said, wearing her usual track pants and t shirt, and leaning against the wall of her apartment. She eyed the dark haired man in front of her. How the hell he had managed to get into the apartment in the first place she didn't know, but was dying to find out. 

"You waltz in here, how I don't know, and demand that I come with you? How is it that you expect me to come with you with so little to go on?"

"You know I am one of the Generals that protect this city."

"I know that the moment you appeared I watched the only friend I had turn into a cold blooded killing machine." Lita bit out, shocking him into silence. She pushed herself of the wall and clenched her fists.

"The instant you and your buddies showed up my friends disappeared and there was someone cold in her place!" she cried, "Serena didn't exist anymore! All there was was Sailor Moon!"

"And she saved your life." Said the tall, handsome and infuriating man.

"Shut up! That has nothing to do with it!"

"I'm here because she needs your help, Lita; she needs all her friends with her."

Lita snorted, "What friends? She was just using us to appear normal so no one suspect who she really was!"

"That's not it!" Nephrite yelled, horrified, and startling her. "She was guarding you and your ignorant pals! The whole time you knew her as Serena she was watching over you all! Every night she would fight off youma's attacking your homes, or your hangouts! Why the hell do you think she was always late? It's because she was saving you from the destiny that has awaited you since they day you were born!"

Lita wanted desperately to scoff at him, to not believe him, but there was something in his face that wouldn't let her. Something inside her twisted painfully, and it took her a second to realise it was her heart, rusty from disuse that was twisting.

She opened her mouth to apologise, to say something, anything, and the whole world exploded around her. She was thrown into the wall behind her, and then another blast rocked her flat, and her shoulder hit the ground, but she didn't feel any pain. Blinking back the dots of white light in her vision, she stared in amazement at the General who was standing over her, holding a shield of what looked like glass out in front of him, fending off the next blast.

He lowered the shield for an instant, and sent a winding attack of glowing stars towards the youma that had attacked her home, a woman shaped thing with glowing red eyes and yellow skin, and then spun to her while it tried to reorientate itself.

"I'm sorry, Lita, but you don't have a choice." He whispered, and wrenched her from the floor and wrapped her securely in his arms. To his surprise, Lita didn't fight it, just looked up at him with wide, curious eyes. Not scared, she never was, he mused, just slightly worried and intensely curious. He sent her a small smile, and flung them both into space.

* * *

Amy concentrated hard, her brown furrowing slightly. She was trying to understand a book that, as far as she knew, was a text for most first year medical students. She was only in high school herself, but she found her own lessons boring, not at all stimulating. Well, she had lately. When Serena had been at school with her, Amy had been able to busy herself with helping her friend. 

Amy's mouth twisted bitterly. She couldn't believe, now, that Sailor Moon/Serena had really needed help. It was impossible to think of the great Sailor Scout not being able to do a little maths or English. She shut he book with a snap. She had thought she had a friend in Serena, and had even made up her mind to tell her. Amy shook her head. To tell her the huge secret locked inside her heart; it was stupid.

And yet…

There had been times when she was sure Serena already knew. Every now and then she would look at Amy, and that one look could speak volumes. Serena had always been better telling people things with her eyes, than with her words. Amy had envied her.

She stood and began to pace restlessly. It could be possible that Serena knew, especially considering who her alter ego was.

She came to stop in front of her small mirror, and stared at the pale face framed by the blue hair, a face that had increasingly become a stranger of late. She didn't know that Amy anymore.

She clenched her jaw and concentrated.

A shinning blue symbol appeared on her forehead. She sighed, and studied it for what must be the millionth time.

How would have Serena reacted when Amy told her she was an alien?

She had come so close to telling Serena, so close. But at the last instant, she had been gripped by a great fear and had kept her mouth shut. Now she wished she hadn't. Serena wasn't entirely normal; for heavens sake, she was Sailor Moon! She of all people would have understood.

"Penny for you thoughts, Amy."

Amy jumped with a little shriek and turned to stare at the man in the window. He was sitting on her window sill as if he was comfortable (it was a very wide sill) and smiling at her. It was the General Zoisite.

"What are you doing here?" she cried, and then gasped and clapped a hand to her forehead, but he had seen, and had gone very pale.

"That symbol…" he whispered, sliding of the sill into her room.

Amy felt a burst of fear, and then one of curiosity.

"You know this symbol?" she asked quietly, lowering her hand.

He came across to her, came so close she could smell him; he smelt like sakura blossoms (cherry blossoms). He cupped her cheek with one hand and stared at the symbol.

"If I were blind I would know that symbol." He murmured.

Amy's large blue eyes widened. He pressed the fingers of his other hand to her forehead, and frowned. They remained like that, frozen for a second.

Suddenly, Amy felt a crawling icy chill sweep over her, and shivered. Then there was a blinding blue white flash and she jumped away from the General.

But it wasn't the same Amy that jumped away from him that had been staring in the mirror a few minutes ago. She wasn't even wearing the same clothes.

She stared down at herself in a mixture of horror and amazement. She was wearing a lighter blue version of Sailor Moons blood red and dark blue outfit. There were silver threads in the white material of her outfit, and they glittered as she stared down at them.

She looked up at the General. He smiled, and in a whirl of wind his uniform changed slightly, no more grey, but black and gold with a gold cape.

"Sailor Mercury. Let me introduce myself again. I am the General Zoisite of Earth."

Amy didn't know what else to do, so she bowed.

He held out a black gloved hand. "Please come with me, Sailor Mercury. Sailor Moon needs your help. I need your help."

"So I am an alien?" she asked, fingering the blue jewel on her blue bow.

"Yes, sort of, but not, as you can see, all that different from a couple of other people you know." He stretched out his hand again, "please, Amy, I can't explain now. The youma's are coming after you.

She took his hand.

**AN; ok, so it went up late the week I said it would be early. Sigh. No review replies today, folks. I'm going to be replying to all those I can through email so please check your email for the answers to your questions! If your replying feature is disabled ill try and remember to write them at the end of the chapters. tell me if the formatting in this chapter is to your liking! Enjoy!**


	5. Chapter 5

Endymion laid the unconscious figure on the bed, and looked down at her worriedly for a second before lifting his head and eyeing the other characters in the room. Malachite he knew barely, Mina, perhaps a little better. He noted Mina was standing as close to the bed as she could, and as far away from the white haired general as possible. As if she thought the unconscious girl could keep her safe somehow, even in the condition she was in now. But the other two, the two that had introduced themselves as Guardians of the Moon Kingdom, Luna and Artemis…

They were special.

He could see it; there was something very unusual about them. Luna was a beauty, though too dark for his taste. Her hair hung in a midnight wave from her double buns on her head. Her dress was long, flowing and yellow. Artemis, her husband, was a teasing man with eyes too blue to be natural and was wearing white, wearing jeans and a black dress shirt. They had been very surprised to see him, and had both taken a few seconds to recover, but were now acting as if they had known him for life. In fact, they were acting as if they had known everyone all their lives, and it puzzled him.

"Let's leave her to sleep it off." Suggested Luna, and the small party followed her lead downstairs to the lounge. If it could be called that. The room was large, old and furnished in the style of the period the mansion had been built in, with gold and red, black and dark wood everywhere. It was, he thought, very comfy, though a little to large for his taste.

They had been sitting in the lounge for about five minutes, telling a worried Luna and Artemis all about the latest battle, when a whoosh of wind filled the air.

There was a sharp crack, as if something had broken.

Jadeite appeared out of nowhere, holding hands with a pale Raye Hino. Luna and Artemis jumped to their feet to greet the pair, both smiling as if they knew something the others did not. Raye jerked her hand from Jadeites and looked around in shock.

"What the hell is going on? Where's Serena?" Raye shrieked, making everyone wince.

Jadeite pushed her into a chair, "please, calm down Pyro." He had unwittingly called her what he used to, a nickname that Serena used too. She gasped and stared up at him, open-mouthed.

Luna distracted them by serving tea. Endymion watched Raye's eyes follow Jadeite as he walked over to Malachite and spoke to him in hushed whispers. Huh. The priestess was in the grip of a crush.

There was another sharp crack, and Nephrite and Lita appeared, Lita very quickly disentangling herself from Neph's arms with very pink cheeks, Endymion noticed. Another crush. Interesting.

Then, to everyone's astonishment, a column of blue mist appeared in their middle of the room.

Out of this collum of blue mist stepped a short, wry young woman with short blue hair and large icy eyes. She was wearing a blue sailor outfit, with a very short skirt, but she did not look the least bit uncomfortable in it. Her two bows were light and soft gauzy material, and the bow at her back had tails that reached her ankles and flowed when she moved. She looked around the room, at the astonished faces, and, upon spying Luna and Artemis, Luna half risen from her seat in shock, strode over to them, and clasping Luna's hands, demanded

"Is she alright?"

Luna nodded dumbly, "I think she will be…" she blinked, and seemed to shake herself, "forgive me, Amy, but… do you remember?"

Sailor Mercury's eyes were exhausted and haunted as she looked at the woman that had been Serenity's mentor from day one. "I remember everything." She said quietly, "something happened while I teleported here, and I now know everything." Her voice was hollow.

"Even…?" Luna could not say it, and tears rose in her eyes.

Mercury nodded solemnly, "yes, even that." She was of course, referring to the manner in which she had died.

Luna hugged the girl.

Zoisite, who had entered unnoticed amidst this, joined the three generals standing behind Endymion, who was lounging languidly as if he had not a care in the world, but whose dark blue eyes were watching everything with a sharpness that spoke of wariness. Malachite took in Zoisite's pale face and patted his shoulder, trying to swallow the old fear in his gut. It would not be long now before Mina remembered as well. Zoisite was unable to tear his eyes of Mercury, and deep inside him he felt the realisation of a great fear. She had rejected him. She could not love him now.

Mercury turned from Luna to look at the girls. She saw Jupiter's strength in Lita, Venus's prowess in Mina and Mars' loyalty in Raye, and she smiled.

"I am Sailor Mercury." She told them, and sketched a bow, "you know me as Amy."

She changed back to Amy in front of them. The girls stared an amazement, unable to say anything.

Amy turned to Luna, who handed her mini super computer. Amy smiled a thankyou.

"I need to see Serena." She announced. Throughout the whole interlude she had not looked at the generals.

* * *

Ten minutes later Amy looked up at Luna with a worried frown on her face, "her injuries are not conducive to her condition. I can not find any reason why she would be so far into darkness with the little power she has used."

"Little power?" Endymion asked, thinking back to the battle, and the awesome amount of energy Sailor Moon had used.

Amy looked at him, remembering the clever Prince from the Millennium and explained, "according to what you have told me, she has only used about a third of her power today. I can find no reason as to why she should be in this coma like state."

"Only a third of her power?" Malachite demanded, shocked, "but we've never seen her use so much energy before!"

Amy ignored his comment. In fact, she gave no sign of hearing him at all. Not for the first time, Endymion wondered what the deal between the generals and the scouts was.

"Can you wake her, Amy?" Luna asked.

Amy held her palm over Serena's head and her blue symbol glowed softly in the afternoon light pouring from Serena's bedroom window.

After a few seconds of tense silence, Amy opened her eyes.

"No." she said flatly, only the slight tremor to her hand betraying how scared she suddenly was.

"I don't understand." Mina said quietly, "what does that mean?"

Amy scanned the girl with her computer again, taking in the clenched shut eyes and tense legs.

"The amount of nega power surrounding her is of my scale." She said sadly, "Beryl has sealed her into a sleep."

"What does that mean?" Mina demanded, more loudly now. "Mercury, tell me, and that's an order!"

Mina blinked in surprise as the words came out of her mouth. She had just ordered a sailor scout around!

But Amy merely nodded, and said "Unless we find a way to break Beryl's hold over Serena, she will never waken."

"That's horrible!" cried Raye.

"Who exactly is the Beryl person and why has she done this to Serena? Why has she attacked us too?" asked Lita, focusing on learning more and swallowing the panic inside her.

* * *

Luna shooed them all downstairs again, promising to answer the question. Once they were all downstairs, she led them to a long gallery, full of exquisite paintings. The Generals, never having been in the room before (it was always locked) stared in as much amazement as the others.

Luna led them to the far end first. "Do you recognise this young woman?" she asked them, gesturing to one of the larger paintings that held the pride of place.

It depicted the girl from Darien's dreams, even though he had never seen her, he knew it.

Seated on a dark marble bench in a dark green garden, a woman with impossibly long light hair failing from Sailor Moon's two buns sat staring at something that you couldn't see. Her mouth was set in a small, pretty smile, but there was a hint of mischief around her expressive blue eyes; she was amused. The only jewellery appeared to be a tiara that sat across her forehead, and had a crescent moon on it. She was wearing an exquisitely made white gown, simple, off the shoulder with long gauzy sleeves that reached just past her finger tips. The bodice of the gown was embroidered with gold thread and small pearls and sat in a v on her hips. From there her skirts fell in a long silky drape, artistically arranged to shine slightly. She was sitting with her legs crossed and one hand resting on the seat beside her held the only splash of colour in the painting, a blood red rose. Endymion realised with a shiver that her hand was bleeding from the thorns, but had been painted so unobtrusively that only the keenest observer would notice.

Amy was quiet, but there was tears in her eyes as she beheld the Princess that had always been one of her closest friends. She glanced at Endymion, saw him frowning at the picture worriedly, and looked again at the picture again. This time she saw the blood on the hand, and let out a little gasp.

"Her hand is bleeding." Endymion said quietly. Amy refused to think of him as plain Darien now.

"Yet she's still smiling." Said Luna quietly. Artemis shot her an annoyed glance, "the blood was painted on after the fact when someone wanted to hurt her. She was very distressed when she saw it."

"No she wasn't." Amy's voice had come from the back of the group, surprising herself with her outspokenness, but she felt it was her duty. "She wasn't shocked, or upset, or surprised, she told me later that she had been expecting something of the kind. But she acted horrified when she saw so as to make everybody think she was worried."

"Amy obviously knows who she is." Said Artemis with a grin, "shall I help the rest of you?"

When he was greeted with silence, he stepped up to the painting and covered the bottom part of the girls face with his hand, disconnecting the dress with the face.

Recognition was instant, "Serena!" Mina cried, amazed.

"That's Serena?" asked Lita in surprise. Endymion, Amy noticed, was staring silently in open mouthed… she wasn't sure what. Wonder, admiration, love?

Luna nodded, "painted over a thousand years ago it's the best painting we have of her."

"_A thousand years ago?" _came from many voices at once.

Luna smiled, and Artemis gestured to the next paining, a broader horizontal one. "See if you recognise these people."

"_That's me_!" cried Lita in shock, flinging out an arm and pointing. Sure enough, at the back and to one side of the group stood Lita, wearing … "I'm wearing … _a sailor outfit!" _

"I'm there too… wearing…" Raye stuttered, staring at herself in the painting, her older self was smiling wisely.

"And… that's me… but that's not my uniform!" cried Mina staring open mouthed at the orange scout.

"Actually Mina," said Amy, "that is your original uniform. The one you are using now should not exist. We don't know why it does."

"That's you Amy." Said Darien into the silence that followed, pointing to the demurely seated scout at the right of the picture.

"Yes." Amy agreed, "Again, painted some one thousand years ago."

"_WHAT?" _came from four puzzled voices.

"Next painting, next painting," Artemis ushered them on, and the four generals watched as the girls stared in open mouthed amazement at the palace before them.

"You lived here." said Luna helpfully.

"What?" asked Darien weakly.

"Well, not you, Endymion, the girls and Serena did." Said Luna, patting his arm.

"What were we?" asked Lita weakly, staring at all the marble.

"Sailor Scouts. Princesses. Famous, oh I could list things for ever, but most importantly, I think, you were friends that would go to hell and back for each other." Said Luna smiling sadly up at the painting.

"This is bullshit!" cried Lita, "do you expect me to believe that I lived there a thousand years ago? I don't even believe in reincarnation!"

"Ah, but you remember things, don't you, Lita?" asked Amy quietly, cutting the Amazon's tirade short. Lita stopped, and blinked several times.

"I was…. lightning." She murmured suddenly, "Storms. Thunder."

"Yes, my friend." Said Amy, patting her arm, "you were Sailor Jupiter, the Thunder Goddess, or so people called you."

"Well I remember an awful lot of fire." Interjected Raye, "what does that mean?"

Amy smiled, "you were Sailor Mars, Goddess of Flame, as you were called."

"Then what on earth was I?" asked Mina, "I don't remember an element."

Amy shook her head, "No, like Serena, your power stems from your inheritance. You were Sailor Venus, and known as the Goddess of Love. Though you were less lucky in your own choices than in your matchmaking." As she said this she turned her best sub zero degree glare upon Malachite, whose mouth tightened around the edges and who went a little paler.

There was a second of silence when Mina looked between Malachite and Amy, frowning, before Luna stepped in.

"Come on, everyone, that's enough for today. Everybody is tired, and I think we all need sleep. There will be other times to continue this."

"But no one has answered my question!" wailed Lita.

* * *

But they didn't have time to sleep much. A but past one o'clock that night, Luna raised the whole house by running up and down the corridors, banging on doors, yelling for everyone to get up.

Lita rolled out of bed with a moan, and grabbed her jeans. After dressing she tottered down stairs, dishevelled still with sleep and yawning uncontrollably. She was the last to arrive; everyone else had just come straight downstairs.

She stopped on the bottom stair and stared at the foyer in shock. Sailor V Stood next to Sailor Mercury, and the Generals stood behind them, gathered around tuxedo Mask, whom she assumed was Darien. Not at all surprised by this revelation, she asked the room in general.

"What's going on?"

"There's an attack at the park." Said Mercury.

"They want us to fight too." Said Raye, hugging herself.

"What?"

"Here, take these." Luna handed Lita a green pen, and Raye a red one. Lita stared at the funny looking four on the top of her pen, and frowned, "what's this?"

"That's your henshin wand. Hold it up and say 'Jupiter power'." Instructed Luna.

Lita raised the wand, "Jupiter POWER!" her voice was louder than she had intended, almost as if her body had its own ideas about what was happening.

The next instant, thousands of tiny jagged lights began to whirl around her, each a different shade of green. She became so bright everyone had to look away, and when they looked back there was Sailor Jupiter.

In a green and pink version of Amy's costume, Lita looked resplendent. She stretched out her hands and admired the silver threads in the white gloves that made her hands sparkle as she moved. Her pink bow on her chest was a soft gauzy material, and the bow at the back of her uniform was the same, but with tails that reached to her ankles. Lita grinned and everyone heard the crack of electricity as she cracked her knuckles.

Raye stared in open mouthed amazement at her friend, and the turned to Luna, "they aren't going without me!"

Luna grinned, of course not." She handed Raye the red pen, and Raye needed no prompting to cry out her own transformation words.

"Mars POWER!"

Ribbons of fire shot out of nowhere and wrapped around the raven haired young woman and with a burst of fire that reached almost to the high ceiling Sailor Mars stood there. Her uniform was red and purple, and again there was silver in the white of her uniform, and her bows matched the others, except for the fact that they were a deep dark purple.She looked good, though the surprise on her face wasrather amusing.

"Follow us." Said Malachite, and headed out the door, "with this many of us it shouldn't be that hard a fight."

For a second it looked like Sailor Mercury was going to disagree, but Luna poked her, and she nodded resignedly. She could continue this later, but now what was important was the youma.

She headed out the door after the others.

Luna watched them go, and Artemis slung and arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek comfortingly.

"They'll be alright." He assured her, "Mercury won't let anything happen to the girls, and the others can take care of themselves."

"No, I know… but if they are hurt Serena is going to hurt _me."_

"You forget she's in a spell induced sleep." Artemis pointed out.

"Yes... I must get Amy to do some more tests on her, to see if any of her energy is being stolen."

"Do you think Beryl would do that to her?"

Luna shrugged as they went up the stairs together, "I think that a thousand years ago she might have died to protect Serenity, but love has turned to hate now. There's no telling what she might do."

Artemis smiled at his wife, "a thousand years we had to wait here on this earth for her to come back to us, and now we're out of time."

"Talk to Pluto about _time_, not me." Luna snapped, and strode ahead.

Artemis sighed and halted, watching his wife disappear into Serenity's room. He did not understand why Luna felt such an animosity to the Time Scout, and she would not tell him.

**AN; next chapter, the scouts and the battle! Just who will rescue who? **

**To the anonymous reviewers; **

**Mila; I just couldn't have Serena as a weakling! It really annoys me in the anime! And as for the corny roses, if I had my way I'd get rid of them fully! Thanks for the review!**

**Lindsay; as you requested heres the next chapter! Thanks for the review! **

**Allison; I'm glad you like it so much! Yeah, I don't usually get interested in Senshi stories, cus Serena's my favourite so I made sure I didn't overdo it with this story. Thanks for the review! **


	6. Chapter 6

**AN; Well I hope everyone had a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! If you didn't, well, I'm sure it'll get better as the year goes on. BTW, this is a bit of a marathon chapter. I could have left it shorter, but I couldn't be bothered opening an new word doc to start a new chapter, so its two chapters, rolled into one. sigh this does not mean that my story is getting any shorter, however…. faints from exhaustion BTW BTW; there is death in this chapter, lots of it. If you don't like it, don't read the last half. You've been warned! **

**Note; I don't own sailor moon. Please feel sorry for me. **

When they arrived at the park, the scouts and generals were greeted with a surprise. There, among the trees and flowers, fountains and playgrounds was not one, but three youma.

"Crap." Said Malachite, and as much as Mercury disliked the man, she had to agree. One would be easy, two ok, but three could get tricky. She glanced around, and the generals were looking at her or Endymion, deferring to her knowledge and his rank.

"Zoisite, you're the strategist. What do you think?" asked Endymion.

Amy felt the now familiar pain of a frozen gut, clenched her gloved fists and ground her teeth, but did not snap out the comment that she had on her tongue. _Why did you have to ask him? _

"I think that you, Jupiter, Malachite and Mars should take that one," he pointed, "V, Jadeite and I will handle that one," again he pointed, "and Nephrite, Mercury and Tux can go for that one." Again he pointed.

Amy noticed with a wry smile that he had not put the scouts with their ex-lovers. Wise of him. But he had always been wise. Something that had made her like him in the first place. _ARGH! _She screamed silently; _stop thinking about him you stupid bitch! He killed you! Forget him!_ Mercury shook herself. She had a job to do. _Beat the youma, go back to the princess and try to wake her up._ She repeated this to herself a couple of times, not noticing the others teaming up. _Serenity will understand. I need someone to talk to. Serenity will help me. If I can wake her up._

"Let's do this!" said Tux. Mercury jumped when he spoke, coming out of her reverie with a snap, but nodded. Jupiter cracked her knuckles just like she used to. Mercury winced, memories flooding her mind for an instant, before she shoved them roughly away.

She, Nephrite and Tux headed off. She went first, running forwards with impossible speed towards the youma which was about as tall as a tree and had many writhing tentacles, all of which looked rather slimy.

She sprinted forwards until she was barely a meter away from the beast, heard Tux call a warning, but ignored him, and jumped straight up in the air, higher than the youma.

"MERCURY ICE BUBBLES BLAST!" she screamed, holding her hands high above her head as she flew, and when she reached the apex of her jump she threw her arms down, which meant her legs were thrown up so she had flipped. The thousands of bubbles that had gathered around her hands flew downwards in a spiral and wrapped around the youma, freezing it instantly. She was falling now, towards the youma, and remembering the karate Jupiter had taught her long ago, she slammed the side of her hand into the youma's skull.

It served only to knock the still frozen youma backwards to the ground. Mercury landed in a crouch in front of it, having flipped again the last minute to land on her feet. She felt oddly exhilarated, it wasn't often she got to take point position in a battle; she was, after all, the analyst of the group. Usually she stood well back and called out hints and suggestions.

The youma screamed, and broke free of the ice, but it was severely weakened still. Mercury jumped backwards, out of reach of the tentacles and next to the two men.

"Your turn." She muttered.

Nephrite couldn't help but smile at the short blue scout, but held up a hand towards the stars.

"By the power of the stars!" he cried, and a bright light gathered at his hand, which he thrust forward, and the stars that were his usual attack cut forward, razor sharp, lighting the small area of the park that they were in. In an instant, the tentacles were gone, cut off and crumbled into dust.

Tuxedo Mask disappeared as Nephrite attacked, and Endymion drew his sword and charged forwards before the youma had time to recover. Endymion swung with a vengeance as he reached the youma, and there was a cutting sound. Endymion braked, and jumped backwards to land softly besides Mercury.

A gold line appeared across the youma's centre, and an instant later it crumbled into two halves without a sound, and then exploded into dust.

Mercury grinned, and nodded at him to acknowledge the move. He smiled and sheathed his sword.

Across the park, Jupiter, Malachite and Mars had gotten a youma with three arms, and two heads, and a sickly green colouring. When she saw it, Mars wrinkled her nose and made some comment about it looking like it belonged in a mardi gras parade. Malachite had rolled his eyes, and had leapt forwards, his silver sword clutched in his fist. One of the youma's arms was cut off almost instantly, and it yowled in agony and rage.

But Malachite swore as he rejoined the two girls, for two arms grew in the place of the one.

"Give me the rainbow crystals!" demanded the youma in broken speech. Malachite frowned, the rainbow crystals? What on earth were they?

Jupiter was peeved. "How are we supposed to fight this thing if it just regrows itself?" she demanded of Malachite, whom she saw as the one to ask since he had more experience.

"An awful lot of energy, all at once." He replied.

"Meaning?" asked Mars.

"Meaning we have to attack with our strongest attacks all at once." Malachite explained, watching the youma carefully. It hadn't been listening, but chose that moment to attack.

Malachite held out a hand, and gritted his teeth, _Shield!_ He cried silently, and a transparent silver-ish shield came into existence around him, protecting him and the girls from the blast of power that the youma sent their way.

By now Jupiter was really cranky. "right." She muttered, and as soon as Malachite dropped the shield, ran forwards, to her two companion's surprise, and ignoring Malachite's advice.

"Eat shit, windbag!" she yelled, and made as if to jump up onto the youma. The youma saw her coming and flung out an arm. But she hadn't jumped. At the last instant, Jupiter had skidded to the ground, sliding on her hip. Now almost under the youma she threw the attack she had ready.

"JUPITER THUNDERCLAP ZAP!"

The glowing tendrils of lighting burst from her hands and slammed full force into the middle of the youma's stomach, where she hoped its centre of gravity was.

She was right; her lightning attack at such close quarters blew the thing off its feet, well almost. It made it stagger backwards, loose its balance and topple forwards, falling right for her.

"MERCURY ICE BUBBLES BLAST!" cried Mercury's voce, and the beast froze, mid fall, the ice scouts attack fusing it to the ground to stop it crushing her friend.

"Jupiter, Mars, its weakened now, go together!" Mercury called from where she stood opposite. Nephrite and Tux had joined the other group to help if they could.

"Err…" began Mars, but then, "MARS FIRE IGNITE!"

"JUPITER THUNDERCLAP ZAP!" called Jupiter from a now safe distance.

Vines of fire shot forwards from Mars, and crackling lightning from Jupiter. The two attacks hit the youma simultaneously, and it exploded, send ice shards everywhere.

There was a beat of silence and the Jupiter collapsed to the ground, her knees giving out.

"I'm totally fagged." She announced, "Is it always like this?"

Malachite nodded, but Mercury spoke, "yes, I'm afraid it is."

A little way away, Zoisite, Sailor V and Jadeite had the worst youma. It could disappear and reappear in an instant, and none of their attacks hit it.

It now appeared behind Jadeite, who swung around and bough his sword down – through thin air- it had gone again.

"Look out!" cried V, but Jadeite didn't have time to turn before the youma attacked, a huge fist slamming into his left shoulder and sending him spinning to the ground with a yelp of surprise and pain.

"Bastard!" yelled V, and sent a beam at it, but it just disappeared again.

"LOOK OUT!" yelled someone, and V swung round to see the youma swinging towards her, but the next instant something hit her in the side, sending her flying sideways into the ground. Malachite landed next to her, an arm across her, and the youma shrieked in rage at having its prey taken from him. He wasn't about to let her get hurt if he could stop it.

Zoi was next to be attacked, and though both V and Malachite yelled a warning he too was knocked to the ground, unconscious.

"I've never seen something like this before…" Malachite muttered as the youma disappeared again.

"I so did not need to hear that." Said V, getting to her feet.

Endymion arrived, and looked around, "What's wrong?" he asked upon spying the two prone generals.

The next instant, something wrapped around his ankles, and lifted him off his feet. He crashed to the ground and then was jerked into the air.

The prince swore creatively from where he was hanging upside down and if Malachite hadn't been so worried he might have laughed.

"What the…?" began Mercury, arriving with Mars and Jupiter.

All three of them screamed in surprise as a tentacle caught them too, Jupiter by the waist, Mercury by the wrists and Mars by the ankles.

"I'm wearing a skirt!" Mars screeched as she was lifted into the air, "_Do something!" _

The youma, now holding the four of them, disappeared and reappeared again, taking them with it, and now it scooped up the unconscious Jed and Zoi.

Malachite leapt forwards, and tried to cut a tentacle, but with lightning speed the beast blocked his sword, and twisted it out of his hands. The next instant he too was lifted helplessly into the air.

V watched helplessly as all her allies began to glow as the energy was sucked out of them; one by one they went limp.

"You… _BASTARD!" _she screamed, and threw another beam of power at it.

It disappeared again, and the beam hit nothing but air. V let out a frustrated sob, and searched the darkness for the youma.

The next instant something slammed into her, and she hit the ground and saw stars.

_Serenity looked up at her and smiled, "please, Sailor Venus, you know you have to go." _

"_But I don't wanna!" her voice, V realised groggily, was speaking now, "I hate them!" _

"_You hate one of them because he makes you feel uncomfortable. And I don't think you hate him either. Its just convenient to say that." The girl in white corrected, making Mina go red. "And besides, the Queen wishes it." Added the princess._

_She had always referred to her mother as 'the queen', V realised, groggy still._

She blinked, and stared up at the glittery sky from the ground.

Then, something told her to roll sideways, quickly. She did, and a tentacle slammed into the ground where she had been, cracking the dry earth.

V was on her feet now. Her friends had revived somehow in the interval, and cried a warning.

A warning she did not heed. The tentacle fell, but was stopped.

A white gloved hand wrapped around the slimy limb, and Sailor Venus turned cold eyes on the youma through her red mask, and twisted its limb viciously. It howled, and tried to pull away, but the leader of the sailor scouts was not the leader for nothing, and it couldn't.

"Those are my friends you're hanging out to dry." She said, and her voice had changed, become colder, and more clipped.

She held her other hand up, arm stretched above her head, and then flicked her hand, just once, and an orange pen appeared.

The Generals and Mercury gasped.

V smiled, "Venus Power." She said, almost lazily.

Hundreds of tiny orange hearts gathered, swirling around her feet. They spiralled up her body, removing the Sailor V uniform and leaving behind the uniform of Sailor V. When they reached her head, she tilted her head back and the mask disappeared, leaving a tiara with a topaz in it. The orange hearts swirled up above her head, through her hair and solidified, becoming her chain.

He smile was genuine now, "I am Sailor Venus, leader of the Scouts." She told the youma, and let it go.

It pulled its injured tentacle back, but attacked with the others it had grown.

"VEUNS LOVE CHAIN ENCIRCLE!" Venus yelled, and threw her chain.

It cut through the attacking tentacles, but didn't stop there, and with a flick of her wrist; Venus guided the chain through the tentacles that held her friends and allies.

Mercury landed on her feet, Mars hit the earth on her stoamch, Jupiter landed on her feet, but yelped and collapsed, a twisted ankle making her swear. The guys either hit the ground on their feet, bums or stomachs.

Venus called out another attack, "CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!" she yelled, and threw her chain to. The beam of yellow power whipped forwards, the glowing chain swirling around it, and the youma met its end with a howl, and crumbled to dust.

Venus held out a hand and the chain came back. She caught it, and wrapped around her waist like she used to.

Mercury straightened, the silver in her uniform flickering as she moved. "Venus…?"

She was the same old Venus, that's for sure. But her eyes were a little younger than they had been on the moon. Mercury cursed the fact that when the memories returned to her friend, the eyes would age again.

"I guess so." Said the orange scout.

Mercury sighed. This was getting harder and harder. Why couldn't someone else do this?

"Dammit, you're supposed to be the Leader!" she grumbled. Venus raised an eyebrow. Swearwords didn't seem to suit the blue scout.

"Not that I'm unhappy you've awoken fully, Venus," said Endymion, "but we need to figure out what the Youma wanted. Why three at the park?"

Mercury shrugged and looked around. There was no one around.

"Ours said it wanted the Rainbow Crystals." said Malachite.

Mercury, who had been trying to brush off her uniform, froze, and choked on nothing.

"What?" she shrieked, "the rainbow crystals? But they can't…" her eyes widened in horror. "I know what they are trying to do."

**AN; whoops. Sorry people, I just realised that that battle took up six pages…. That's about the same length as a usual update…. Anyway, on with the actual STORY! Sort of… not at all.**

* * *

Serenity's magic induced sleep was not peaceful. She dreamed of her friends, of their last moments, things she had never seen before, and only knew the barest of facts about. And deep inside her unconscious mind, the barest flicker of awareness flared in horror at what she saw.

_A column fell with a thunderous crash, and a cloud of dust rose quickly. Screams of panic and agony echoed through the Imperial Palace as the attacking hordes broke through barrier after barrier of Imperial Guards. Mercury didn't know where the other scouts were, but she hoped they were already in the shield room with the Queen and the princess. She was heading there, as fast as she could, threading her way through panicking court members who had not yet escaped through the underground tunnels. She had been in the library when the attack began, and had had to fight her way out through a collapsed corridor. That was why she was late. _

"_Mercury!" a male voice made her stop and turn. Her lover was standing behind her at a junction of corridors._

"_Zoisite?" she cried in shock, and ran to hug him, "where have you been? I haven't seen you for days!" _

_Then she realised she was being trivial, and stepped back, "come on, we must get to the shield room!" _

_She tugged at his arm, but he didn't move, just looked down at her with blank eyes. _

_Then she noticed his sword was drawn and bloody. And then she saw the corridor he had came out of. Bodies lined the floor. _

_She looked for a second from him to the dead court members, and the silence of the corridor suddenly struck her as frightening. _

"_Zoi…?" she backed away, the look in his eyes…_

"_Join us." He said in a hoarse whisper that somehow echoed, "Join us, Mercury!" _

"_Wha… join who? Zoisite! What has happened to you?" she cried. _

_A great, booming, evil, female laugh echoed through the halls. Mercury stilled, and listened. _

_When the laugh faded away she turned back to Zoisite, and her eyes were agonized. _

"_Beryl. Beryl did this to you?" _

"_She is my Queen, the one whom I serve." _

"_No!" she cried, "You serve Endymion! You know that!" she grabbed him by the shoulders and shook, "wake up! You serve Endymion! Beryl has brainwashed you!" _

_Something hit her, and she went flying, slamming into a wall and sliding down it. _

_Zoisite stood over her, eyes blazing. "I have been given a task." He told her, voice softly deadly. "I will complete it." _

_Mercury got to her feet, tears of pain running down her face. Her skirt was ripped now, and she had a cut on her forehead. She had never been slow, and knew what Beryl would have ordered him to do. She had known since she saw the dead bodies in the corridor._

"_Zoisite, please! Wake up! REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE!" she cried, her voice breaking. _

_He swung his Ice sword, but she ducked, and the long blade carved through the marble above her head. _

_He followed her, swinging again. Mercury knew she might stand a chance if she used her powers…but to hurt Zoi… _

_Her gaze hardened. She was Sailor Mercury, and her place was with the Queen, it was her sworn duty. _

"_Mercury bubbles blast!" she yelled, and the bubbles burst from her hands and slammed into him, full in the chest. He cried out in surprise and flew backwards, dropping his sword._

_The corridor filled with mist. Mercury began to back away from it, edging slowly to the next corridor, no mean effort, considering she was blinded by her own tears. _

_The only warning she had that she was in trouble was the slight flicker of movement deep inside the mist. _

_White hot pain seared up her leg and her head whipped back as her shoulders slammed into something hard, the marble floor. _

_There was a dagger imbedded in her thigh. Mercury reached down and jerked it free of her leg with a little cry of pain. _

_There was the sound of metal scraping on rock. He had picked up his sword. She tried to stand, but her bloody leg gave way underneath her. _

"_No... Oh please, Selene, no..." she whispered, and began to crawl. _

_Behind her Zoisite stepped out of the mist with his sword in his left hand, his right arm hanging limply against his side. _

_A realization hit Sailor Mercury then. She could not outrun him. She would never see her friends again; she would not be there to help them beat this evil back. She would never laugh with the princess again, never dance in another ball. Never have a family, children. _

_She choked back a sob, and took a great gulp of dusty air. But she would go with her head high. She was the last of a royal line, the last of the Great Mercurian Masterminds, and they always met their deaths head on. _

_So she pulled herself to her feet, using a convenient statue of a rearing unicorn, and turned to meet him. But could not meet his eyes. _

"_I don't know what she did to you, darling." She whispered through cracked lips, "but I swear on the name and honour of Mercury that I will, someday, somehow, find a way to undo the evil done here this day. If that means dying by your hand then I accept it. But I will not forget, and I will not forgive." She did, after all, have some pride left. _

_She raised her blue haired head and met the eyes of her executioner. _

"_But I do I love you." She whispered. _

_Zoisite pulled back his sword and thrust it forwards. _

_Everything went black as the sword entered her friends' chest, and inside her head, Serenity was screaming. But even above her screams, she heard Zoisites' agonized cry when the spell holding him broke and he realized what he had done._

_But she could not wake, and trying to turn away from the vision of her dear friends' death she fell deeper into unconsciousness, where more terrible visions awaited her. _

_

* * *

Mars was next._

_Serenity was staring at a room that had once been brilliantly beautiful, a marble floored ball room with chandeliers and huge silk draperies. But it was now covered with dust and rubble, broken pieces of stone glinting weirdly. The large wooden doors to her right blew open and she watched as a red skirted figure backed into the room. Sailor Mars was sobbing, the tears running freely down her face. She could not believe that the only man she had ever even liked, let alone loved, was the man that was standing before her. _

_Pursuing her was Jadeite, a sword clasped in his hand. It, like Zoisite's, was covered in blood, but it was flaming with a red flame, his element. _

"_What has she done to you?" sobbed Mars, "please Jadeite, please, remember where your true loyalties lie!_

_The dark suited general didn't answer, just raised his sword. _

_The priestess' eyes glittered angrily, her fiery temperament suddenly blazing into existence again, and she lifted her chin proudly, "hear this, you evil creature, " she had accepted the fact that jadeite was gone now, and only and evil thing remained, one that took pleasure in blood. " I am Sailor Mars, last of the Fire Priestesses, and you will not keep me down! No power can keep the sailor scouts from their destiny. I swore to protect the Moon Royal Line and I will!" _

_Jadeite swung his sword. Blood spayed out and it would have hit Serenity had she really been there. She was screaming again, silently, inside her head, as she watched Sailor Mars fall, eyes blank with death and a with deep gash across her chest, splitting the jewel at the centre of her bow. _

_Jadeite stared down at the fallen woman, something flickering in his eyes. And everything faded to black as the haunted expression he wore always now came into his eyes, and his hand spasmed and he dropped his sword._

_Serenity stopped screaming now. She had no more pain to let out. She watched the next death with a sort of despairing resignation that would have scared any one of her friends if they had seen it. _

_

* * *

Unlike the other scouts, Sailor Jupiter fought to the very end. After a second of shocked pain and horror when she realised the man she was looking at was not the man she knew she fought with all the strength that she could, used every move she had ever used on her lover, even the ones he had taught her when she first met him. Nephrite blocked every punch, every demonic fast move._

_Lita fought until she had no strength left, and then with a surprising burst of despair for the usually positive thunder scout, she collapsed to her knees panting. __She looked up at the blue eyes of her lover and let her tears fall. "I love you." She whispered, "And I forgive you." _

_Nephrite reached down to her with his left hand and caught her chin in a surprisingly gently grasp. He lifted her face and kissed her gently, but his eyes were hard. Lita blinked in surprise as he pressed his lips over hers but shut her eyes and did not see the final blow coming. Serenity did, and screamed in rage that Nephrite should still be kissing her beautiful Amazonian friend when he ran her through. _

_

* * *

And again everything faded to black. Serenity took a few deep breaths in this dream world and then screamed into the echoing blackness again, a rage filled scream that rebounded arounder for what seemed an eternity before the darkness lightened again and took the form of another vision._

_Sailor Mercury lay at the base the statue of a rearing unicorn. One of her legs was drenched with blood and her boots were covered with dust. Tears had crystallised on her face, frozen into tiny teardrop shaped crystals. There was hole in her chest, under her collarbone, and her whole uniform was covered in blood and dust, giving her a ghostly appearance. _

_A little way away a man with long blond hair coming out of his ponytail, lay on the floor, the dagger he had stabber her leg with still in his chest, where he had left it as he died. The pool of blood under him had made his blond hair seem red. _

_Standing over the scene, her face set and cold stood a young woman with long blond hair in a gold dress that seemed to shimmer even without her moving. Her hair was pulled away from her face with a golden ribbon. Even though her face was cold, tears shimmered in her eyes._

_And then the scene changed and Mina was staring down at Mars, at the clenched shut eyes and the bloody chest, at the dead general nearby, who had fallen on his sword, and Serenity could see that there was a tear was leaking down her face. _

_And again the scene changed, and Mina was crying openly now, staring at the dead thunder scout, the loyal Amazonian's bloody and bruised form limp and cold, and Serenity noticed that Nephrite had somehow managed to take hold of Lita's hand while he killed himself because of what he had done. _

_And then the scene changed, and it was finally a room serenity knew well. The place where she and the scouts had spent every spare minute of their lives, when the girls were not need by the Queen, and Serenity's duties as Commander did not take her away from the Palace. It was large, with a small indoor fountain that mercury inevitably froze every time she felt as little playful. There was the large fireplace, where Mars would sit and read ancient texts for hours on end if she could. There was the punching bag that Lita had broken so many times, and that they had all helped repair, hanging in the corner, out of the way, but where the Amazonian could see everybody. There was the couch that Mina invariably occupied, and the gossip papers she read avidly were still strewn over it. And there was the large armchair, not far from any point in the room, where the princess of the Moon had sat and listened to their chatter, and as often as not, contributing to it more than the others. Serenity smiled bitter sweetly as she remembered the days when she would come in, wet and dirty from training, and Mina and Raye would despair at the state of her hair while the others passed her either towels or food and drink, and she would sit in that chair and let their conversation and even their companionable silence wash over her. _

_In later years, the generals had joined the crew, as often as not dragging Endymion with them, and the group would pair off, Serenity and Endymion talking about battle tactics, and the others whatever thoughts popped into their heads. _

_But no more. The room was silent and empty now. Or almost empty._

_Mina stood on the balcony, in the breeze. Around her the noise of battle continued, but she paid it no heed. In her hands was the sword she had been given on the day she had sworn to protect the Moon Kingdom and its line with her life. It was the Moon sword (the one from the manga if you've read it). She held with both hands wrapped around the pommel, and the tip of the blade touching the ground. _

_She heard footsteps come into the room behind her and lifted her chin. She spoke without turning. _

"_Serenity and Endymion have disappeared. Selenity is desperately searching for them both. But they won't be coming back, will they?" _

_Silence._

"_I thought for a while that there may yet be hope. But I see I was wrong. The scouts are dead, killed by the men I introduced them to. The Princess and the Prince are, or will be, dead. The Queen is dying; she has used too much power to long survive now, trying to keep the attackers at bay." She paused._

_Silence._

"_I guess Beryl planned this, then, from start to finish?" her voice wavered now, and Mina tried desperately to swallow tears._

_Silence. _

"_She used to be our friend, you know. I cannot understand what warped her, twisted her so." _

"_You are not in uniform." _

_Malachite's voice was puzzled, but still cold. Just as she knew his eyes would be if she turned to meet them. Her shoulders sagged. _

"_I have failed in my duty to this kingdom. _I don't deserve to die as a Scout, _as if_ _my life_ meant _something_! _I don't deserve to die wearing the uniform of those dead girls. I don't deserve to be counted as one of them, _this is all my fault_!" _

_Serenity watched open-mouthed as Malachite stepped up behind mina, and put his hands on her shoulders. Could it be he was not bewitched like the others? _

_But Mina knew better, and lifted her face to the stars, and shut her eyes. "Selene, forgive me!" she whispered. _

Snap!_ Mina's eyes burst open for a second, just in time for the light to drain from them, and she crumpled. Malachite lowered her to the ground, careful to support her broken neck, and stared at the lifeless form for an instant before reaching out and shutting those enchanting blue eyes. _

_Serenity had no more screams to scream, and watched numbly as Malachite stood, and began to shudder and make horrible noises at the back of his throat. He collapsed to his knees, thrashing around. His spasms knocked the moon sword from where it had fallen, through the balcony rails and into space. There was a clatter as it landed three stories below. It was as if the noise somehow calmed the general, because he stilled, and went limp. _

_Serenity edged closer, and saw that his eyes were wide open, but blank. He was dead. She did not know how. _

_And everything faded to black again, and she was left with the echoes of the screams of her friends, and the mental pictures of their deaths, cycling over and over through her mind. _

Luna and Artemis exchanged worried glances, looking at the clenched jaw, frown, pale cheeks and balled fists of their princess.

**An; I hated writing all that, but it had to be done. Hope you don't hate me too much! Next chapter won't be as bad, I promise! Btw; this chappie is hot of the press, so any mistakes, SORRY! sorry also that it took me a while to update... Christmas and New Year will be my excuses this time!**

**No replies to anon reviews today folks, sorry. All those of you who are not anon reviewers, please let me know if you a receiving my replies to your reviews! I'd like to know if things are working properly! **


	7. Chapter 7

**AN; well, not much actually happens in this chapter… don't flame me! Ant btw I DON'T own Sailor Moon, so please take a moment to fell my pain at the loss. **

* * *

It was it was close to midday when they finally got back to Luna and Artemis' mansion. Artemis met them at the door with a harried look,

"Amy, we need your help, she's fading."

Amy didn't even let him finish his sentence before she raced up the stairs. _NO! she cant die, she cant!_

Darien, who had been slightly buoyed by the success of the battle, came back to earth with a thump. His little meatball head, who was not a meatball head at all, was in deadly danger still. Feeling cold, he went quickly up the stairs after Amy.

In Serena's room Amy pulled out her mini supercomputer, and as the others crowded into the room behind him, proceeded to scan the unconscious girl. There was a minute of tense silence, in which Darien ran through all sorts of possible outcomes in his head, and decided that he didn't like any of the ones where Serena didn't wake up, and then the computer beeped.

When she saw what the computer said, Amy reacted instantly.

"_Mercury Power!"_ she bellowed, and a dome of white/blue power flashed into existence around Serena, knocking Luna away from the bedside. Inside the dome, Serena's stiff posture and aggravated facial expression softened, and she seemed to slip into a more comfortable slumber.

As Artemis helped her gently to her feet Luna exclaimed, "What happened? What's wrong?"

"The Negaverse have been draining her energy. That's why she hasn't woken. Beryl must have put a spell on her while she fought her." Amy explained, busily scanning with the mini computer again.

It beeped and she sighed with relief, "I have stopped the drain. But the instant this shield is lowered, they will continue to drain her, and she cannot afford to loose any more energy, her reserves are too low already. The only way we can stop this is to go to the Negaverse and find the focus point or catalyst that Beryl is using for her spells, and to destroy it."

"If it'll save her, let's do it then!" cried Lita.

Luna, Artemis, Amy and Zoisite shook their heads. Nephrite, Malachite and Jadeite chuckled sadly at the Amazonian temperament they knew so well showing through.

"I think perhaps its time we told you more about this Negaverse." Said Luna, "come downstairs. Amy's shield will hold for a while yet, and when it breaks Artemis and I can take over."

Minutes later, they were seated in the large lounge again, the men on one side, girls on the other side for the room, using an assortment of chairs, lounges and chaise lounges that Luna and Artemis had accumulated during their years looking for the princess.

Amy looked around, and her sharp mind noted that there were roughly four seats empty. _The Outer Senshi,_ she decided, _must be supposed to occupy them when we find them. Assuming that they haven't awoken yet._

"A thousand Years ago there was a time of peace, tranquillity and abundance for all. It called the Silver Millennium. There were two main Kingdoms in the Millennium, the Kingdom of the Moon and the Kingdom of Earth. The Moon Kingdom was ruled over by a fair and wise ruler, Queen Selenity. She had two children, Serenity and Sameth. Earth was jointly ruled by a proud king and wise queen, King Terra and Queen Terre, they had one child, a handsome son named Endymion."

Here Endymion started. Luna shot him an amused grin before continuing.

"There were many lesser in size, but no less important, Kingdoms, those included the kingdoms of Mars, Mercury, Venus and Jupiter. These were allied to the Moon kingdom, and had been for countless centuries. The alliance took the form of the pledge that every first born daughter of these lesser kingdoms would go to the Imperial Palace on the Moon and train there in both the magic and fighting arts, and when she turned eighteen (or earlier if the need arose) she would be sworn into the ranks of the Sailor Scouts."

Here Luna glanced at the girls in turn, and then continued,

"When the new scouts were sworn in, the old were retired. But, for you girls, this was not the case. Your predecessors, Aunts, I think they were, died well before your eighteenth birthdays in the line of duty, protecting Queen Selenity from harm, so the Moon created a elite guard that would stand in your place until you matured enough. This didn't stop all of you coming to the Moon when you were twelve or thirteen, and becoming fast friends, together and with Selentiy's daughter Serenity."

Luna paused and seemed to be wrapped up in memories then. Artemis touched her hand and she shook the melancholy thoughts away.

"When you turned eighteen, you became Sailor Scouts, and your friendship with the Moon Princess wavered because of the many duties you had to fulfil. She herself was busy, too though. The elite guards that guarded the Queen until your coming of age were assimilated into the Army, under the command of Serenity. She had no interest in the throne, even though for the first eight years of her life she had been the heir apparent. When her brother was born she found other ways to amuse herself. This usually meant a wooden sword and the torment of the Palace Guards, but by the time she was eighteen she was an excellent commander. And so you lived, for a few years."

Luna paused, and glanced across at the Generals, warning them that they would be the next element to be introduced. They shifted uncomfortably.

"You girls were about twenty one, twenty two, when Earth sought to strengthen ties wit the Moon Kingdom. The king and Queen sent their son Endymion, an accomplished diplomat and warrior to the Moon to seek a formal alliance with the Queen. He bought with him his four Generals, each of whom commandeered a quarter of Earths Great Army. Jadeite, Malachite, Nephrite and Zoisite were wary of the strange kingdom that they found themselves in, and untrusting of the Queen because of her magical ability. I should mention here that the main heirloom of the Moon Kingdom was the Silver Crystal, a magical crystal with the power to destroy a planet. For many generations it had not been used, but there was evil stirring in the more remote places of the universe, and Selentiy had become wary. As I was saying, the four Generals did not like the kingdom that they found themselves in. they perceived the Lunarians to be spoilt, soft, and stupid. This outlook changed after they met Serenity, the Commander of the Lunarian Army. She changed their minds, I never really knew how."

Here Luna fixed the Generals with a curious gaze, Malachite and Nephrite went a little red. Zoisite spoke, "Another time perhaps, Luna. Please continue."

"Well. The generals, Serenity and Endymion became fast friends, with the Sailor Scouts joining them once introduced, along with another woman, a great friend of Serenity's, whom I will not name just yet. At first there was only a small amount of attraction between the scouts and generals, but as time went on and the talks with the Queen of alliances became more in-depth, real romance sprung up, and not just with you four, Serenity and Endymion fell in love as well."

Malachite cleared his throat. Luna shot him a glance, but acquiesced to his wishes. "I will not tell you much more about your relationships, but go on with the story. After Endymion and Selenity reached and agreement on the alliance, the five Earthans stayed on the Moon for a while, enjoying the party-like atmosphere. But the evil I mentioned earlier had take root. Before the beginning of the Silver Millennium, there was war, a terrible war between the universe and the Negaverse. At the end of this war, the Negaverse was sealed away, but only at the cost of many, many lives. Now it began to break free of its bonds, and it influence began to be felt. Serenity's friend, the one I mentioned earlier, came under the influence of darkness very quickly. None of us knew until much later, of course, for evil is very sly and can hide itself when it wants to. Now this woman, Beryl, her name was, was in her own, odd way, deeply in love with Serenity."

Darien felt a surge of a feeling he figured was jealousy, but tried to swallow it, not understanding fully its source yet.

"But when Serenity fell in love with Endymion, and they announced their plans to wed, Beryl's love turned to an all consuming hate. She unleashed the Negaverse, with catastrophic outcome. The first to suffer were Endymion's parents, Beryl killed them because they had spawned the man that took Serenity away from her. Endymion's parents were murdered brutally, but there was no trace, no clue as to who had done such a terrible thing. Endymion and the generals departed for Earth immediately, to calm the frightened and shocked kingdom, and to quell any usurpers."

Luna sighed painfully and Artemis took over.

"No sooner than they had arrived that they received a distress call from the Moon. Hurrying back they walked into a trap. Their ship (space craft) crashed. Endymion was thrown from the wreckage, and was relatively unhurt, but the generals needed hospitalization. While they recovered Endymion found out that the distress call had been bogus, and so, thinking that someone wanted him away from earth, returned to his home planet, leaving the generals behind to recover. "

"I think I remember some of this," broke in Darien. "When I got to Earth, I realized they actually wanted me on the Moon, so I sped back to warn my friends of the trap."

He stopped abruptly, and sank back in his chair in shock, and the girls watched as his handsome face lost all colour. "I was too late."

Artemis nodded sagely, "In your absence, Beryl and the Negaverse attacked. You arrived just in time to pull an injured Serenity from some rubble. Beryl found you then. I have no first hand knowledge of the facts surrounding your death… but it appeared that you died first."

Luna cut in, "Serenity told me once that once you were dead, she didn't want to live anymore, but that she made sure she took Beryl with her when she went. I don't know anything other than that."

"And… our deaths?" asked Mina timidly.

"We died next to the ones we loved, trying to reach the Queen to protect her." Said Amy softly, but with a sense of finality. In a roundabout way, it was true. She could not bear to tell them yet that these men had killed them, possessed or not.

There was silence then, for a long time. The three girls who had not yet remembered glanced at each other, at the floor, at Luna and Artemis.

Luna caught on first, "Gentlemen, perhaps if Artemis and I could have some time alone with the girls please?"

The four Generals and Darien left the room with haste, happy to escape the odd atmosphere. Artemis joined them, after kissing Luna on the forehead.

Once the doors were shut Luna smiled at the girls. "You would like to know which General was your old flame?" she asked, slightly amused, but at a warning glare from Amy she subsided slightly. The Ice scout was angry, and in pain, and so was not acting the way she usually would, and Luna did not want to aggravate the poor girl anymore.

"Yes..." said Lita hesitantly, "I think I'd like to know. I mean, I have a feeling… but…"

"And who does your feeling tell you is your old flame?" asked Amy quietly, curious to see wether or not Lita was remembering anything. She should be, what with finally becoming Sailor Jupiter.

"I think… I mean… I guess... err… Nephrite?" Lita asked tentatively, and it was a mark of how unsure and off balance she was that she wasn't boldly claiming one of the generals. Amy smiled, and nodded, amused by the usually forthright Lita's reticence. "Does that please you?" she asked, wondering if without their memories to warn them off, the girls were beginning to like the Generals again. She was right. Lita went scarlet and muttered something incoherent under her breath.

"Before I guess mine, I wanna guess yours Amy, even though you've obviously got something against all of them." Announced Mina, before anyone else could say something.

Amy opened her mouth to protest, but "Zoisite." Said Mina, watching the blue haired genius carefully.

When Amy said nothing, Mina clapped her hands. "I knew I was right! He suits you, or vice versa. I have a feeling about it."

"So you should!" said Luna, reclaiming control over the conversation, "you are after all the love scout." Mina blinked, not having thought of that, and grinned. Raye, who had been silent, giggled.

"I guess that means mine is either Malachite or Jadeite," she said, and then pulled a face, "I can't believe that I'd ever go for Malachite, so Jadeite?"

At Luna's nod, she smiled dreamily. "What a hunk!"

Mina had gone silent, "Malachite?" she paused. "Malachite." She seemed to be trying out the name. Then her eyes took on a faraway sheen.

Luna and Amy exchanged worried glances. _They're in love already. _

* * *

Later, Luna and Amy shared the washing up, while listening to the radio talk about the new scouts and the debate that was raging as to what these new scouts were called. Amy dried and Luna washed (not that that detail has anything to do with the story….).

"What are we going to do Luna? The girls are falling in love already, and it's just gonna hurt them more when they do finally find out what really happened. Not to mention Serenity may be dying, and there's nothing we can do."

Luna had been pondering the same issues all afternoon, and sighed wearily. "Yes… I don't know what to do, and neither does Artemis. About either issue."

"Should we warn the girls? About not getting too involved I mean." Asked Amy worriedly.

"No, they'd just see it as interfering. I think we should let events run their course."

"And let things happen all over again?" Amy scoffed, and then paused, "There's something more," said Amy, remembering, "The youma are after the seven rainbow crystals."

Crash! Luna dropped the plate she had been washing into the sink.

"What?" she cried, "but that's…"

"Very bad." Agreed Amy, knowing only that the seven rainbow crystals were inherent to the make up of the imperial crystal.

"Worse than you realise my dear." Said Luna gravely, picking up the plate again, but making no move to wash it. "At the end of the Silver Millennium Selenity sealed the seven shadow warriors in the crystal, and it split becoming the rainbow crystals. If she regains the crystals, she regains the shadow warriors."

Amy felt the now all too familiar sense of fear crawl through her gut.

Behind them in the hall leading to the kitchen, Darien listened quietly, wondering just what it was that he hadn't been told, and if he should really trust these people or not.

**

* * *

Authors Note; thanks to all my reviewers again! If you're an anon reviewer, and DON'T see your name under this, let me know and ill try and figure out where I missed your review. Thanks!**

**Friends1004; **well I actually only have a vague idea of when the girls get their memories back. Of course, if I have anything to do with it will be at the worst possible time…. thanks for your review!

**M; **thanks for your review! Hope you like this chapter!

**Shortiemoi; **I hated writing last chapter because it was so sad. This one isn't much better, and I'm sorry to say not much happens. Thanks for your review!

**Again, if you submitted an anonymous review and don't see a reply here, let me know and I'll track you down. **


	8. Chapter 8

AN; argh! I can't apologise enough for not updating! But you see, this year I have to move away from home if I want to do the university course I want to do. So I've been busy, finding a house, housemates, signing a lease, packing things, going to enrolment advice days…. Etc. sigh thanks for understanding!

**Roses are red, violets are blue, me no own, so you no sue! (**I didn't come up with _that_ either.)

* * *

Darien sat on the veranda of Luna and Artemis' mish mash mansion in an old swing seat and pondered. Luna, Artemis, Amy and the four Generals were keeping their secrets well. The girls had an inkling of the undercurrents of worry and tension that were running through this house, but they hadn't yet realised the extent to which things were being withheld. And perhaps that was a blessing, but he wished that Serena or Serenity, whatever her name was these days, would wake. It seemed to him that if only she would wake, then everything would be alright. But she couldn't wake without help, Luna and Artemis had been very clear on that. 

So that left only one option. Go to wherever that scary bitch Beryl had hidden her focus point for the spell she had cast over his bubbly blond and destroy it. Easily done? He thought not. He sighed, and turned his attention elsewhere.

So he was a long dead Prince of a forgotten Kingdom was he? Talk about having the rug pulled from under you. And yet, strangely, he had not been all that surprised when Luna and Artemis had told him of his heritage. He had never expected something so huge but had always known he wasn't what he seemed exactly. A Prince who had lived over a thousand years ago, and had died over a thousand years ago. The amount of time was just mind-blowing. A thousand years! And he was alive again, born to make the wrongs right. He frowned. Cliché's had never been his forte, but that was really a cliché. But it was true at the same time. If only he had had his powers as tuxedo mask or Endymion when he and his parents had had that car crash…

He shook his head to shake the brooding thoughts off. He had a new family now, one he had to protect. The girls needed taking care of so that when Serena woke they could guard her like they had. And even though the Generals were great warriors, he sensed a vulnerability in them that he was sure had something to do with the girls, and resolved to keep a close eye on them too.

He rose and went inside, hurried upstairs and into Serena's room. She was lying peacefully still; Mercury's blue shield had been replaced with a pale gold one, Luna or Artemis' work he guessed. He chose a chair and sat, prepared to sit out the night and watch over the blond.

* * *

Downstairs, Amy stood in the gallery, staring up at the paintings with haunted eyes. In the shadows, Zoisite watched her, his eyes worse than hers. He watched her turn her head to look at the painting of Endymion, Serenity, The Scouts and the Generals with Queen Selenity and Prince Sameth (serenity's younger brother) in the foreground with Endymion's parents, Terre and Terra. That painting had been completed on the day that the official alliance between Earth and the Moon began, and it had thrown all of them together a lot to pose for it. She remembered annoying the artist by keeping turning around to talk to Zoisite about all manner of intellectual things. Serenity and Endymion she remembered too, had both been the best behaved. Sameth had been a terror, but as usual, Selenity gave her young son the leeway she had not always given her eldest. Malachite had been standing behind Mina and had kept tugging her hair, while Mars had kept sending playful embers Jadeites way. He'd had to keep ducking, and got yelled at so many times by the artist that in the end the poor fellow had given up ducking and let himself get singed. 

Zoi saw the small smile curve her mouth and remembered the fun time they had all had posing for that painting.

"Good times." He commented.

Amy jumped about a mile and spun round.

There was a beat of silence as she stared at him, and he swallowed, wondering if she would attack him, or worse, ignore him.

But she straightened and looked back at the picture. "Yes," she agreed her voice warmer than it had been in days, "they were."

"Are they totally over?" he asked quietly. It was really his way of saying are _we _totally over?

Amy understood. She looked back to him, and then at the painting. "I don't know." She met his eyes again, and tried to stop her heart fluttering. Then she turned away. Zoisite understood, and left her there.

* * *

Later- 

Mina and Lita were watching TV, Mina lying on the floor and Lita relaxing on the couch. Mina liked the show, she kept giggling and snorting. Lita looked a little bored, teen girl flicks were really not her thing, but since there wasn't even an exercise machine she could find in this huge house, she had nothing better to do. Raye was on the phone in the corner, trying to convince her grandfather that everything was fine, and that no, she didn't want him to meet her friends and do readings for them. Amy came into the room, flicked a glance at the TV, and rolled her eyes. Mina's taste would never change, and Lita's patience it seemed, would never falter.

She sat in one of the arm chairs and tried to read a book, but her thoughts kept turning to Zoi, and she caught herself daydreaming in a matter of minutes. With a snarl of annoyance that was probably a little more vehement than she meant it to be, she flung the book down and put her head in her hands.

Raye glanced over at her from the phone, and said goodbye to her grandfather.

Mina muted the TV and rolled over to look up at the blunette in the comfy armchair. Lita froze in the middle of a yawn and snapped her mouth shut, suddenly interested in life again.

Raye hung up and came and sat on the arm Amy's chair.

"Amy, even though I don't know you very well, I think there's something bothering you, besides the obvious I mean."

"And again, even though I don't know you all that well, you don't strike me as the sort of person that would throw old books around in an angry fit." Added Lita with a lifted eyebrow.

Amy chuckled wryly, but didn't say anything. Nor did she lift her head from her hands.

"It's got something to do with the Generals, doesn't it?" asked Mina suddenly, "you've been acting really weird around them."

"Everything's got to do with the bloody generals." Amy snarled into her hands, her voice coming out slightly muffled.

The other three girls glanced at each other. Swearwords _still_ didn't fit with their mental picture of the blue scout.

"Care to share?" asked Mina, sitting up.

Amy sat back in her chair and stared at the ceiling. She was about to begin when Endymion entered the room, his vigil over the bed of Serena obviously ended. The four Generals followed closely behind him.

"War conference time." Said Malachite by way of explanation. He was practically rubbing his hands with glee at the thought of doing something.

"We've decided we must free Serenity from her slumber." Zoisite added as he sat down.

"This poses a few questions. One, how do we get to this catalyst? Two, how do we destroy it? Three, how do we get out again after we've destroyed it?" said Endymion, taking charge.

Amy frowned, and though hard for a second.

"There is a way that we can get in and out, but it will leave us four girls drained completely, and I'm not sure that's such a good idea when we're going into a place such as the Negaverse."

The silence that greeted that statement told her to continue.

"The girls and I can combine our powers and transport all of us to the Negaverse. From there we'll be pretty helpless for a while, and after you destroy the catalyst we should be ready to transport you out using our sailor planet power."

Zoisite, after hearing the name of the spell they would be using, shook his head. "no." he said flatly, "that's not an option. Without a moon power in the group, the second time may very well kill you if something goes wrong. No, we must find another way."

"There is no other way." Amy stated coolly, "Not if we want to get Serenity back to normal."

"Luna, I'm insulted." Artemis voice came from behind the couch.

"So am I, Artemis." Luna's voice echoed from the same space.

Two cats appeared, slinking out from behind the couch, tails twitching. Amy and the generals recognised them easily, but Endymion, Raye, Lita and Mina stared in confusion.

"We can teleport you all, to and from the Negaverse with little worry. And while we are there, we can revert to these forms to save our energy, and be less noticeable." Said Artemis.

A swirl of light appeared under the white cat and he changed back into the human Artemis. Luna did the same, much to the four newbie's amazement.

Endymion coughed, somehow not as surprised as he felt he should be, "well, that question has been answered, so let's talk about the catalyst for the spell."

"What does a catalyst look like, for future reference?" asked Lita, cutting to the chase as usual.

"It can be absolutely anything." Said Amy with a sigh.

"Well, that's a lot of help." The Amazon muttered,

Amy grinned, "well, usually, there are something either very personal to the caster of the spell, or to the object of the spell. Beryl has always been self centred, so she's probably used something important to her."

"And how do you tell if it is the catalyst?" asked Mina.

"I'd have to scan it with my computer."

"That's bad, seeing as there's only one pc and we want to get it over and done with."

* * *

later (I'll tell you how much time later soon.")

* * *

Almost as if clawing her way through a thick cloth of darkness, Serenity came to. She blinked slowly, once, twice, and carefully turned her head. She was lying in her old bed in Luna and Artemis' Mansion. 

But how was that possible? Beryl had cast a sleep spell on her, one that could only be broken by-

To the casual observer it would have seemed as if all the life in the young woman suddenly drained from her, and for an instant she seemed about to sink back into the coma like state again. But she rallied, and threw back her bed clothes and made for the door. She was out it and running down the hall to the control centre in an instant, long hair trailing behind her.

_A spell that can only be broken by the focus point for the spell being destroyed. To do that, they would have gone to the Negaverse…_

With feverish haste Serenity checked every screen and log that had been made in the last few days. Luna had left her a message. Serenity typed in her password and an image appeared on screen of Luna, wearing a little smile.

"If you're watching this, princess, we've obviously done our job. If we're not around, then don't come after us. I can't stress that enough. _Do not come after us! _You must focus instead on finding the seven rainbow crystals, and destroying the seven shadow warriors contained inside them. Only then can you help us, if we have indeed, run into trouble."

Luna smiled properly then, "Endymion told me to tell you he hopes you're feeling ok."

Serenity smiled then, and sighed as Luna signed off. So, the rainbow crystals were needed. Fine. That she could do.

* * *

A fat blue/white cat wandered amiably down a quiet suburban street, stopping to sniff a garbage tin here and there. He was feeling proud of himself, having managed to escape from his owner for the first time in a long time. Now he was free to wander the street as he wished. Maybe he would catch a mouse. 

"Hey, you're a _fat _kitty!"

Mr. Kitty looked up at the voice, insulted. A girl was staring down at him; she had long blond hair and blue eyes and was wearing a funny outfit.

Annoyed at being called fat, he turned around and walked away, tail flicking in bother.

"Oh, I'm sorry Mr. Kitty!" cried the girl, running after him, "I didn't mean it! Look, I bought you a treat!"

When Mr. Kitty smelt the sardine she held out to him, he turned around, and after a polite 'meow' of thanks, gobbled it up. Sailor Moon laughed, and scratched the top of his head. It had taken her a while to realise that cat was the bearer of one of the rainbow crystals, but thanks to her transformation brooch (which had begun to flash when it felt the presence of a crystal) she had managed to track him down.

"I need your help, Mr. Kitty." She told him softly, scratching behind his ears. "My friends are missing and yo have something inside you that can help me."

The cat looked up at her, his pudgy face twitching.

"He'll help us before he'll help you. I will see to it. I am Acacia."

Sailor Moon gasped and looked up. Floating above her was a creature she would soon begin to term a doom and gloom girl. Female shaped, but more like an evil elf than a human, and frighternly beautiful.

She pointed a wickedly nailed finger at the cat, who yowled in dismay. Sailor Moon made a grab for the kitty, but he swiped at her, not understanding she was trying to help.

"Garfield!" cried a voice, and the cats little owner ran around the corner, having heard his yowl. She stropped and screamed when she saw the thing he had turned into. Taller than her father, and looking more like a wolf than a cat, it had huge jaws and even larger paws, with claws that looked more like knives than claws.

Seeing the little girl, the huge cat like monster lunged for her. Sailor Moon dived for the girl, and beat the creature by a split second, jumping high to avoid the claws with the little girl tucked safely in her arms, landing on top of a cement wall.

The girl's mother came round the corner.

Sailor Moon bit back a swear word. _How come this can't be easy? _

Swinging the girl onto her hip she stepped of the wall to land in front of the woman, "get your kid out of here." she ordered kindly, and turned to the animal, and beyond him, Beryl's lackey.

"This won't be tolerated!" she yelled, and threw her tiara at the floating youma.

The little girl jerked from her mother's arms and ran to stand next to sailor moon. "Garfield!" she cried, "what's happened to you? Where's my kitty?"

Apparently the monster didn't like to be called that anymore, because he swung a paw. Sailor moon jumped in front of the girl and took the blow, yelping as the impact sent her flying and four large parallel gashes opened in her shoulder. She landed in the middle of the thankfully empty road, on her stomach.

She didn't get a chance to get up, the monster, at Acacia's bidding, planted a heavy paw on her back, digging his claws in painfully.

Behind them, the girl's mother grabbed her and turned and ran.

Sailor Moon tried to lift herself up, but the monster was too heavy. She felt a warm breath on the back of her neck, and knew the beast was leaning over her.

"Come on kitty, you're a good cat… ugh…" she muttered.

_There's gotta be some way to heal him without hurting him! I can't kill a cat! _She thought wildly.

Unbeknown to her, her tiara, now back on her forehead, was glowing. Suddenly, it fell of her head, and she stared at it in amazement. It had always fit her perfectly, so she could think of no reason for it to fall off. Then it changed, morphed into a sceptre she recognised very well. Long, thin and with a large crescent moon on the top. She grinned, and closed her fist around the golden rod.

Acacia had no idea what hit her, but suddenly everything was white and she was tumbling through mid air. She hit the ground and knew no more.

The cat monster took offence to this, and raked his claws down the side of sailor moons face. She shrieked in pain, and threw up her sceptre to shield the second blow, barely remembering to cry out the words;

"Moon Sceptre Healing!"

It howled, and threw up its head as the white hot power of the sceptre wrapped around it, returning him to normal, and leaving a dark shadow floating in the air. Sailor moon stood, and pointed the sceptre at the shadow, and again a burst of white hot energy streamed from the moon, and the shadow disappeared.

Acacia was gone, back to the Negaverse, Sailor Moon supposed. The fat cat was back, sitting on the ground and staring at a yellow crystal curiously. Sailor Moon sighed in relief when she saw it, and picked it up.

"There's one." She looked down at the cat, "Thanks Mr. Kitty, I mean, Garfield. I guess you better get home…" she stopped, "actually, perhaps I had better deliver you and explain, or they'll think your some sorta possessed beast or something."

She bent and picked up the cat, ignoring the pain in her shoulder and face.

The girl and her mother were glad to see that Garfield was ok, and were worried about the wounds of the super hero. Sailor Moon brushed them off, told them to feed the cat and disappeared.

She reappeared as a bandaged Serena a few minutes later, back at the mansion, with a very loud, complaining, ravenous stomach. Within minutes she had managed to get the whole kitchen in a mess, spill the milk and get something in her hair. She never _had _been good at feeding herself.

**

* * *

AN; argh! Finally, things are happening again! No more chappies of just talk… I hope, anyway. Sorry about how long it took to update again! **


	9. Chapter 9

Serena wandered aimlessly down the road. She had her hands in the pockets of her jeans, and her head was lowered. There wasn't the usual bouncy step in her walk, nor the giddy smile that she had always worn. Instead her cobalt eyes were dark with sorrow and her brow furrowed. She was worried, terribly worried. It had been three days since she had awoken. The cuts from the first rainbow crystal incident hadn't fully healed yet, so she had had a hard time sleeping last night. Adding to the pain was the fact that she was terrified that something had happened to Endymion and the others. They were the greatest warriors the universe had ever encountered, and yet, they were so vulnerable when it came to emotions. She didn't know yet if any of the girls had awakened in her time asleep, but she prayed that they had.

She prayed that with every single fibre of her being.

Because if Beryl realised that they did _not_ remember, she could twist their memories from the darkness in the corners of their minds, make them remember before it was time for them to. Before they realised, even subconsciously, that they _wanted _to remember, even if they might fear their memories. Not only that, Beryl would be able to give the false memories too. And forcing them to remember things that didn't happen, even forcing them to remember things that _had,_ could seriously effect their minds. It might even send them insane.

She shuddered and swallowed. Her knees felt weak suddenly, and she realised she was exhausted.

She leaned against a shop window tiredly and looked up at the sky. So many things to worry about... no wonder she felt exhausted. For one thing, she needed to get the other five crystals. She'd managed to find another yesterday, from game machine Joe (well, that's what he had been called). Thankfully this time she hadn't had to worry about any onlookers.

"Look, Sarah, look, look there! That girl, leaning against the wall! Look! It's her! _It's her!" _

The voice was loud and excited, and Serena glanced up. Two girls were staring at her, one pointing in open mouthed awe, the other simply staring.

People gathered behind them, staring. Serena began to feel like a rat in a cage.

"What?" she snapped, "what's so special?"

"You mean, you don't know? You're the Princess in the picture!"

"_WHAT?" _Serena just about had a heart attack.

"Behind you girl, behind you, the painting by Lonnie Lanai!"

Serena turned, and found herself letting out a shriek of amazement at what she saw. She took three staggering steps backwards, tripped and landed on her bum on the concrete and tried to tear her eyes away from the painting hanging in the window.

It was her; her as she had been in the Silver Millennium. Quiet, pretty, and happy. She was staring lovingly up at the man she was dancing with, a man that was obviously Endymion, even though you couldn't see his face. Her eyes moved over the picture drinking every little detail in… dancing in the background… she choked back a sob. Malachite and Mina, Nephrite and Lita, Jadeite and Raye and Zoisite and Amy. How was it possible?

"What's going in on out here?" a lady had come out of the gallery to see what all the commotion was about. Serena felt her mouth drop open. Not only did she recognise this mousy looking lady, but she could feel the pulse of the next rainbow crystal in side her!

"You painted this?" she demanded of the woman she had known as a girl in the Silver Millennium, the apprentice who had helped the artist who painted the large group picture of all of them when the official alliance was signed.

The lady went pale and began to back away. "I don't know what you mean…" she began, and then hastily added, "I'm not Lonnie Lanai!"

Serena jumped to her feet, "I know exactly who you are!" she retorted, but noticed the crowd suddenly, and decided not to say anything more here. "Can we talk inside?"

The lady seemed about to refuse, but Serena lowered her head and glared at her in the fashion she had in the Silver Millennium when she was about to get really angry. Recognising the gesture as dangerous, Penny nodded and led the way into the gallery. Serena began to grind her teeth when she realised many of the other paintings were of her and her friends as well.

Penny flipped the sign on the door to closed and turned to face her, looking very meek and mild. Serena remembered vaguely she had always been a bit of a mouse, but definitely a likeable one. No wonder she had created the alter ego Lonnie Lanai so she wouldn't have to deal with the world.

Now that the first wave of anger and confusion had passed, Serena now felt awkward. What was she supposed to say? 'Hi! Remember me? You've got a crystal inside you I need.'

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. _Penny would have kittens. _

She eyed a mat on the floor wryly, _right there. _

Instead of laughing, as she suddenly dearly wanted to do, she took a better look around.

"Penny, all these must have taken you ages!" she exclaimed, staring at the many large portraits, many of which had her in them, or at least elements of her. Her hair, her eyes, her dress…

"How'd you know my name?"

"Eh?" Serena turned around, "you don't know I am?"

Penny shook her head, and seemed to shiver. "I know you're the moon princess..." she whispered at the floor.

Serena watched her for a second, before turning to look at all the paintings again. "Well then. I'll explain. It's not like I won't ever have to do it again. In fact, I'm sure that before this is all over I'll have memorised everything form start to finish!"

She smiled over her shoulder, unconsciously mimicking the picture she was standing in front of. Penny shivered, she'd tried so hard to get the eyes in that painting right… and yet, she hadn't come close to mimicking the myriad of emotions she saw swirling through this enchanting stranger's eyes. Unconsciously, she leaned forwards to watch the girl, trying to drink in every little detail of her appearance that'd she'd got wrong.

"A thousand years ago, or thereabouts, (I got sick of trying to figure out the exact date), the place you've managed to paint in your paintings existed about then…."

Penny's eyes grew wide and her mouth round as she listened as Serena re-introduced her to the fantastic world of magic, battles and love that had been the Silver Millennium. It never occurred to her that this person might be insane, or that she might be lying.

But Serena never finished the story, because, as usual, the Negaverse had other things to say.

And this time, they said it by sending a youma right through the gallery window.

Penny shrieked and ducked flying glass, dimly aware that Serena was silent. When she dared to peek, she couldn't see the blond girl, just the big, eerily beautiful youma.

The youma came towards her, lifting its odd looking sword with an evil laugh.

"You will join our ranks and become the greatest of the Seven!" it laughed, and Penny let out a small whimper. There was no one to help her now…

Or not. A blur of white blue and red came out of nowhere and seemed to whip around the youma before freezing behind the youma, and revealing itself to be Sailor Moon. Penny gasped; she'd heard the rumours, just like everyone else… but to see her in person! She was prettier than she had thought, but definitely shorter than she seemed in the pictures…

But Sailor Moon wasn't paying her any attention. Her eyes were on the youma. She had stolen its sword when she spun round it, and now held the heavy weapon in her hand. The youma blinked, and looked around, and Sailor Moon changed her grip on the pommel of the sword, aimed carefully, and drove it through the centre of the youma's back.

It let out a horrible shriek, its beautiful features changing to and ugly snarl as it tried to reach around its back and withdraw the sword.

Sailor Moon didn't give it a chance. She pulled of her tiara and threw it, and the youma turned to dust.

Sailor Moon was silent for an instant, staring at the dust pile. Then she turned to Penny, only to let out a startled gasp, and jump backwards. Penny was gone, in her place stood a hauntingly beautiful angelic figure. Well, sort of, its eyes were as evil as any Sailor Moon had ever seen.

"Oh, Penny." She breathed, and backed away.

The angelic figure cocked its head and smiled. "Finally, I am realised from the human's limited existence." She said in a cocky tone, "finally, I can join my other _shadows_!"

Sailor Moon pulled of her tiara and twirled it on her fingers, slowly building up power in the attack. "Sorry to disappoint you, but two of your brothers in arms are dead. And you're next." As she threw the tiara she whispered the healing spell that once upon a time she would have used with the sceptre.

The third Shadow Warrior dodged it easily. Sailor Moon glowered. With no backup, and a lightning fast opponent, this was going to get tricky.

She took a running jump and landed on the youma's shoulders, balancing there for an instant, she poured her moon dust explosion over the youma's head, and jumped away.

The shadow warrior screamed at being outwitted like that, shook the dust of before it could do any real damage and plucked two feathers from her wings.

She drew three rocks with the tips of the feathers and flung them at Sailor Moon.

Sailor Moon managed to dodge two, but the third hit her in the chest, and flung her backwards into a wall, knocking paintings flying. Sailor Moon slid down the wall and tried to catch her breath. _This is getting worse than I thought it would._

She surged to her feet, ducked around the next three rocks, caught a glancing blow on her shoulder on the fourth, and was tripped by the fifth. She landed on top of another rock, and felt ribs crack. Blinking back tears of pain, she jumped to her feet again. _Gotta keep moving! _

Suddenly, she saw the weakness of the warrior. Its wings, light for split second movement, but too large to manoeuvre easily. So she had to get low, fast and agile.

Well, she was short, so there's the low, fast… maybe a problem. Agile? Well… maybe.

She gave it a go anyway. Ducking under one attack, she slammed her fist into the warrior's jaw, and then kicked its legs out from under it. While it was on the ground, she planted one stiletto heeled boot on one wing to hold it there, and pulled of her tiara again.

"Moon Healing Escalation!"

And suddenly, she had her boot planted on Penny's arm, the girl having reverted to her usual form. A black mist rose from Penny, but then disintegrated into dust. While Penny was unconscious, Sailor Moon placed a hand on her forehead, and called the crystal from its hiding place. It rose from Penny's chest, glowing deep orange. She clasped the many faceted jewel in her gloved hand and sighed in relief.

Then she stood and looked around the ruined gallery.

"Well, at least I got the third." She muttered.

_

* * *

Three Days Earlier…_

"Well this is a cheery place." Endymion muttered, carefully loosening his sword in his scabbard for an easy draw.

"Yeah," retorted Mars, "it just _oozes_ jolly thoughts."

_Oozes is right,_ thought Mercury, _everything is oozing icky stuff._ It might not have been the most analytical analysis she'd ever done, but it was certainly true. The Negaverse seemed to have a prerequisite for oozing muck and slime.

Venus slipped on a slimy rock, and swore softly, "I know no one said this was easy, but _ewww!_"

"So, Mercury, where's this bright energy spot you think is the catalyst from here?" asked Jupiter.

They had been in the Negaverse three hours, slogging quietly through the empty, barren and cold countryside, keeping their eyes peeled for danger. So far, it had been fairly quiet, but Endymion had a feeling that was about to change.

Mercury looked up; her blue eyes old behind the visor. Endymion knew her alter ego Amy only as a friend of Serena's, but he hand never seen such a look in her eyes before, and it chilled him. He knew she knew more than she let on, and that she could be this scared, this worried, and it quite plainly frightened him.

But he set his jaw. He had to do this. For Serenity. She was depending on them!

"It's in the castle, in the West wing. And it's heavily guarded."

* * *

AN; hi there folks! sorry it took so long, i had to move across the state and set up my pc and all so it was BAD! and the net connection here is ickya! anyway, review, sorry nothing happened! 


	10. Chapter 10

**An; well hi there people! It's been awhile! Hope you're all not too angry with me! Hope you are all good too. Ok, so I'm at a new semester at uni now and its pretty hectic so life is gonna be interesting for a while. That also means I wont be updating all that often now, or if it is often it will be irregular. Anyway heres the next chappie, hope you like it**!

* * *

Endymion looked towards the castle with a frown on his face. There was something not quite right about this. Sailor Moon had been terrified of this woman Beryl, and Sailor Mercury was too. And if those two scouts were worried about her, she must be a threat. But here they were, less than a mile from her stronghold, and they hadn't encountered any sort of protection or guarding measures. It sat wrong with him, this silence. It just wasn't right.

"There's something not right here." He announced softly to the group gathered around him.

Mercury, who had been busy at her computer, looked up. She trusted Endymion's instinct, and was ready to listen to what he had to say. The four Generals also were used to his sudden bursts of insight, and stilled to listen.

"We should have encountered some sort of guards or patrol by now." Endymion said quietly, still scanning the area, "I hate to use a cliché, but it's too quiet."

"I agree." Said Malachite, "Something here isn't right."

"Could they be waiting for us?" asked Sailor Venus.

"Or is it just that this Beryl character isn't all that smart?" enquired Jupiter.

Mercury turned sharply to say something to Jupiter, but Artemis got there first.

"Beryl is an evil queen, but a queen nonetheless. She knows how to protect her kingdom. Mark my words, she either knows we are here and is letting us in, or she is planning some sort of ambush. I'm hoping for the former."

"Why exactly?"

Luna raised an eyebrow at Mars, "Do you fancy the idea of fighting your way to the heart of that place?"

"I don't fancy the idea of this at all." Mars said stiffly, "but let's do it, because Sere needs our help."

Mercury noted the old nickname and guessed correctly that Mars would be the next to awaken. She spared a thought for Jadeite. He wouldn't take it very well.

"Let's go." Said Endymion, and lead the way.

"Why is it that Scout uniforms come in _high heels?_" demanded Mars as she slipped on another slimy rock and grabbed a branch from a gnarled tree to steady herself.

The tree moved.

Mars froze. _That did not just happen._ Slowly she lifted her gaze to the tree. It moved again.

"Um, guys, the tree is watching me."

* * *

Serena's dreams were getting worse. Over the last week she had gotten very little sleep at all. The strange coincidences that had put her in the path of the crystal bearers so far had been useful, and she now possessed five of the rainbow crystals, but it had cost her sleep, and then when she actually got a chance to sleep her dreams were haunted by terrifying nightmares about her past. Most of the nightmares had elements of her old life in them, twisted so horribly that she would wake in a cold sweat and not be able to sleep again.

But every now and then she would see a true dream of either the past (usually recognisable because of the muted colours that came with memories) or the future. One night she even dreamed of the deaths of her scouts, all four of them in a row. She hadn't even been able to stay in bed after that, and had gone out on 'patrol'. But Beryl seemed to be biding her time, for no nega-creatures had attacked the city in the last week. And that worried her too.

She awoke the morning after she found the fifth rainbow crystal to the singing of birds outside her window. She rolled over and looked out at the clear sky and sighed, another day of searching. Or, if she was lucky, another strange coincidence would put the two last bearers of the crystal in her way, and she could go and rescue her scouts, the generals and her dearest prince. If she was lucky.

The phone rang. Rolling out of bed with a yawn, she grabbed the extension and;

"Good morning! Serena speaking."

"Hey Serena." The voice was young, male and sounded down.

"Sam? What's wrong?" her youngest brother of both her lives didn't usually call her, he knew they shouldn't be even seen talking to each other in case Beryl came after him as well. It was a slim chance, but when Serena had first remembered who she really was, she had figured out that having the heir to the moon kingdom as well as Sailor Moon in the same house was just too juicy a target for Beryl to pass up. Sam and her parents had not been happy about their forced separation, but when Serena had demonstrated to them what Beryl would do to them, they agreed.

They were not supposed to contact her. Therefore, something was very wrong.

"Mum and dad are gone."

"Whad'ya mean, gone?" Serena demanded.

"Gone. Their bed was empty this morning. They didn't wake me for school so I went to see where they were, and they're not there. Here. I'm scared, Rena,"

So was she, but she wouldn't admit it. She took a deep breath, "Ok, Sam, I'll come pick you up. You can stay here until we find them. It's probably safer here anyway. Be ready in ten."

"Ten? But-"

"Ten, Sam, now I'll see you then. Pack some clothes and whatever else boys need to pack."

"Nothing, were not like girls."

Serena rolled her eyes and hung up. He was obviously feeling a little better.

She dressed hurriedly in jeans and a purple tee, before teleporting herself to her old home. She arrived with a flash of bright white light in the lounge, and caused Sam to drop his bag in shock.

"Geez! He growled, "I hate it when you people do that!"

Serena raised an eyebrow at him. Obviously he wasn't worried about his parents anymore. Probably believed that his big sister would take care of everything. She had in the past, why not now?

"You mean you aren't teleporting yet, Sam?" she asked him snidely, "I thought you were supposed to be learning the magic stuff."

He glowered. He had never been very good with the 'magic stuff'.

Before he could retort, his sister held out her hand, "come on, let's go."

He took her hand and with the sickening but familiar jerk in his stomach, he was standing in what was to be his room at Luna and Artemis' mansion.

It was large, boyish, and just cool, in his opinion.

"I have to go out today Sam, so I want you to amuse yourself here. There's a gym, den, a bar, thought I don't want you to use it for anything other than soft drink, and the fridge is full. Help yourself to whatever you want."

"You're going out?" Sam asked, panicked, "why?"

"We've gotta find out what happened to mum and dad don't we?" she asked with a little more force than she had intended. She relented a little, "You'll be fine here, the whole place has got a magical barrier set up around it. If anything comes close to the barrier that shouldn't be there, I'll know and I'll be here, ok?"

He nodded, and watched as she disappeared, teleporting off to whatever place she needed to go. He still didn't know her very well. He had never really got to know her in the Millennium, he had been too young to realise that he was a little lonely. And before he had realised it, they'd all died. He shuddered. Perhaps this time, fate would be kinder.

* * *

Serena landed without her usual grace on a dark, foggy and cold plain. She ended up on her butt on the ground, and swore softly. She never had been able to navigate the time plains like her mother had. With Selenity, she'd just teleport straight to the gate, but Serenity usually ended up some distance away and had to trudge until she happened across the Time Gate and its Guardian. Not that she'd visited often, Serena reflected, as she began her trek with a twinge of guilt. Pluto had always been delighted to see her, even if it was only for a couple of minutes.

But there was no guarantee that Pluto would still be guarding the Gate. Serena did not know how the Time Scout had fared at the end of the Millennium. If she had survived, she would almost have certainly stayed at her post. If she too had been killed and reborn then maybe she would not have remembered yet, and therefore would not be there.

When one is on the time plains, one's sense of time is totally skewed. Serena had no idea how long she had been walking. But eventually, she found the time gate. But there was no familiar figure guarding it, no challenge of authority as there had been centuries ago. No, now there was simply an old gate, sitting in a foggy place, empty, and, it seemed dusty.

"Heh." Serena muttered, wiping her hand over one of the engravings, "the dust of time. Never thought it actually existed."

The dust on her fingers glowed as she spoke, lighting up her hand. She only had time to blink before she was jerked out of the time plains and back into the real world. She had time to see a ceiling above her before whatever it was that had grabbed her in a magic grip let her go, in mid air.

"AH!" she yelped and fell.

And landed on a soft double bed with a whumf that knocked the air out of her.

She lay there a couple of seconds, trying to get her wind back, and took the chance for a quick glance around the room. It was a small bedroom, obviously owned by a girl because she could see makeup and perfume. The bed was in the Japanese style with a slightly westernised touch, the pictures on the walls were brightly coloured blobs of colour, and the dresser and wardrobe were similar to the bed in shape and colour. Everything matched, and it all looked very stylish. There was a window, but since she couldn't see anything out it she guessed she was in an apartment building. But in what country she had no idea.

She rolled onto her stomach and stared at the same ceiling she had seen a split second before falling.

_Right, _she thought_, where am I and why?_

Then she heard voices, coming closer and obviously inside the house.

"I'm telling you, Amara, I heard something!" the voice was familiar, but had an unfamiliar tinge of heat to it.

"You're just paranoid because you were trying a spell." Spoken lazily, and slightly laconically, Serena would have recognised that voice anywhere.

"Well, let's just have a quick look around and get back to the spells." A softer voice, but it too was familiar.

"Well I think it's a waste of-"

The door opened and Serena, still lying upside down on the bed, stared at the three shocked faces, trying to hide her amusement. She remained silent; _I need to know if they remember or not before I know how to handle this. _

"Who the hell are you?"

Ah. No recognition. Well, I may as well have some fun. After all, they would do the same to me.

"Well, that's a very good question." She muttered, "I don't know myself half the time. Where am I exactly?" she asked, and sat up before stepping of the bed.

They stared at her, and she saw the dawning fear and curiosity there.

"You're in Chicago." Said Trista, staring still, "In my apartment."

"Chicago? Cool, I guess. Thought San Francisco would have been nice, or even Hollywood. Why did you have to live in Chicago?"

"I beg your pardon?"

Serena waved a hand, "no matter. Let's have a look around then."

And she flounced out of the bedroom and began to inspect the apartment; making comments to the flabbergasted three. When she reached the lounge, she had cause to stop and stare, not at the room, but at the clutter in it. Everywhere she looked there were books, papers and even a few candles.

In the centre of it all, onthe coffee table, was a book of legends, opened to the one of the doomed lovers Serenity and Endymion. Her throat tight, Serena drew closer and stared at the book.

She glanced over her shoulder at the three silent figures, "they never quite get the story right, not matter how many times they try."

She picked up the book and flipped to the illustration of the legend, "and they never ever get me right. Endy they somehow get, but I'm always wrong."

"Just who the hell are you?" demanded Amara, once the scout of Uranus.

Serena shot her a wicked grin over her shoulder, and held up the book, "you've been researching me, you made a spell to call me here and now you want to know who I am?"

"You're telling me that you're Serenity?" asked Trista doubtfully, "look I know you just appeared in my bedroom but-"

"Do you have such little faith in your own ability, Pluto?" asked Serena mournfully, "that's not like you, and I find it a little sad. It's terrible what time can do to people.it changes them so much."

She sat down, suddenly sick of playing, "to tell you the truth, I've been looking for you three for a little while now. Though I'm very happy to see you, it brings back bad memories."

Pluto sat down opposite her, "are you Serenity?" she asked again.

Serena shrugged, "see for yourself."

She glowed briefly, making Amara and Michelle step forwards to protect their friend if need be, and when the glow faded it wasn't a girl in jeans and a tee shirt that sat in front of them, but a regal young woman wearing a white dress with an odd hairdo and a glowing crescent moon on her forehead.

**

* * *

AN: ok, now remember this is a flashback or it won't make sense!**

Mars stepped back away from the tree.

"The tree is watching me."

The words were barely out of her mouth when the tree struck with lightning speed, sending out black vines of power. Mars shut her eyes and prayed, but needn't have bothered.

A deep red wall of flame sprung up around her, and the tree's vines erupted into flame on impact. Once he had made sure the entire tree had been destroyed, he pulled down the protective shield he had erected around Mars. She smiled at him, and Jed's heart lurched.

Mercury, noting the smile, and the sick look on Jadeites face, grabbed Mars by the hand and pulled her onwards.

"There'll be more of that if we don't keep moving." She announced.

Looking back, Endymion would have thought it strange that he did not suspect anything wrong until too late. Until they were in the lions den.

They found it relatively easy to sneak into the castle once they reached it. Though there were many guards about, they were not spaced well enough to dissuade the determined intruder. Once inside the castle, they had to split up to avoid being seen. Endymion, Mars and Malachite went together, Mercury, Jupiter and Jadeite, Nephrite, Venus and Zoisite were together. Luna and Artemis changed into their cat forms and disappeared down a dark corridor together. And although they all went their separate ways they all ended up in the same room. If you could call it a room.

It was a chamber, dark and dank with barely enough light to see. There were several statues of weird looking creatures scatted throughout the large space, all of which were very dusty.

"So, Mercury," asked Jadeite when they reached the room first, "can you pin point the location of the catalyst?"

"Besides the fact that I know it's in this room? No. My computer isn't as powerful as my old one."

"So how do we tell what it is?" asked Jupiter, "does it glow?"

Mercury snorted quietly, "I doubt it. Beryl wasn't one for flashiness, though I suppose that may have changed over time. Anyway, the catalyst will be something personal to Beryl or Serena, probably Beryl. Something special to her, but also something to do with our princess."

The split up and quietly searched the room, looking for something. Mercury couldn't believe that Beryl would keep something so important to her in a dusty, dark room, unguarded.

Unguarded.

Mercury froze. She had been so stupid, so utterly blind, so idiotic. Of course beryl hadn't left it unguarded! Of course she had guards! She wasn't stupid, she knew they would try and help their princess!

She looked back towards where Jadeite and Jupiter were diligently searching every nook and cranny, and then to where the other two groups had just begun their search at the other end of the chamber.

"Here." Endymion spoke quietly, but they all heard and hurried to him, Mercury quickest of all, her heart beating a thousand times too fast.

Endymion stood staring up at the wall, and at the thing hanging from it. Mercury felt a lump grow in her throat. This was the catalyst then, the thing that was holding Serenity in the sleep that drained her of her energy. This was it.

"Her crown." Said Endymion quietly, "the one thing she treasured more than her life, because it meant more than her life. It meant the life of every person under her protection. All her soldiers, all her friends, all her people. She told me once that the Moon Crown was more important than the Moon line, at least to her."

There was a beat of silence, and Mercury sighed, "I hate to say it, but we need to destroy it, and we need to do it now. Something isn't right about this, there should be guards."

She stopped, recalling who she was talking to and shook her head, "I'm sorry, there are guards. They're watching us right now. Destroy it, and let's see if we can get out of here."

"And I f we can't?" it was the first time Venus had spoken in a long while, and Mercury noted the change in her, she was remembering things.

"Then let's pray Serenity awakens and gets the rainbow crystals before Beryl does."

"Enough chatter." Said Malachite, and flung a sliver of silvery power at the crown.

It didn't even dent it.

"All together then," said Endymion, "one, two, three."

WHOOSH!

The beautiful crown, and some of the wall behind it, disintegrated.

They watched the silvery dust float to the floor,

And a whole plane of existence away, a blond girl awoke slowly.

And a voice came out of the darkness behind Endymion, "I must confess I am wondering why half of you, who owe nothing that you know of to the pathetic princess, have just wasted your live so she could wake from a snooze."

It seemed Beryl had indeed, been watching.

**

* * *

AN: woot! I finished a chapter! Sorry again it took so long! Uni life really is bad when you're living alone. Heh. I never appreciated how much a mother does for one. Thanks again to my beta, Prom Firebringer! There shouldn't be such a big wait next time, but we'll see.**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: apologies for not updating! i hope i havent lost many reviewers! i reckon i have though, i usually do when i dont update. apologies also to prom firebringer... SORRY! i didnt send this to you to beta becuasei wanted to get it online! however i will send the next chapter to you assap.! **

**another note to note is that i will be updating regurlarly for the next month or so becuase i am on semester break from the 2nd. much love to you all!

* * *

**

Trista, Amara and Michelle stared at the strange blond woman who had suddenly appeared in Trista's apartment in silence.

Serenity waited with a raised eyebrow.

When nothing happened she sighed and changed back to Serena, with as little dramatics as possible. It wasn't fun if they didn't make any noise.

When they still didn't move she picked up the well-worn book and looked at the legend of Serenity and Endymion again. The story was all-wrong. Sure, the star crossed lovers part was right, but the books never said anything about an evil queen. And why was it always that Endymion had an open shirt and she had a really high split in her skirt in the pictures? Not that either of them looked bad, she decided, but that didn't change the fact that they looked like something from the cover of an Avon romance. Bored, she put the book down again.

A phone rang, and in spite of herself, she jumped. And she wasn't the only one. All three Outer Senshi started too, and looked at each other worriedly.

Serena watched the silent conversation of glances between the three as the phone rang again, wondering what suddenly had them in a worse state than before.

There was another beat of stillness and the phone rang again. Trista moved to the new-ageish desk in the corner and answered it, holding the slimline phone to her ear so o one else could even begin to hear what was being said. Serena, a natural gossip, pouted.

"Hello." Trista listened, and her face tightened as the person on the other end spoke, and suddenly she looked more like the Pluto that Serena remembered. The one that carried the weight of time on her shoulders. Serena suddenly wondered if perhaps she should leave her old friends to their new lives; surely they would be better than their old ones?

"Yes, we'll be there." She hung up, and looked at her two friends, "That was Brent, my contact at the police. There's another attack, at the mall."

The effect was immediate, both Michelle and Amara straightened, their faces tightening just as Trista's had.

"Lets go then." Said Amara, turning towards the door, but stopped and turned back to Serena, who was carefully keeping her face passive.

"We won't be long, and when we get back we'll have a chat."

It sounded ominous, but Serena just smiled and nodded. Amara hadn't really changed. Still a lot of bark, and a slightly stingy bite if you were slow enough to get caught.

The three older women left, and Serena waited a beat before following them. Attack at the mall, huh? Well, it made sense that Beryl would try to draw the outers out as well.

* * *

The mall was a scene of total chaos. Most of the shoppers had been evacuated when Chicago's three Sailor Scouts arrived. The evacuated shoppers and shop keepers put up a cheer when they saw their heroes. A cheer that was almost totally ignored by the three scouts. 

Inside the mall the three scouts stopped in surprise. There had definitely been something here; windows were smashed and shops were trashed, but they couldn't see or hear the beast that had made the mess.

"Where…?" asked Neptune, not breaking from her battle ready crouch.

She was answered a second later. A large monster, about the same height as a one-story house appeared with a blinding flash directly in front of them with a snarl of aggression. It looked like a dragon, and it definitely had teeth to match. But it didn't have any wings and looked more like a snake than a dragon. It was a deep dark dirty green colour.

Pluto didn't waste time with speeches, just powered up and threw her Death Scream at the monster. An instant before the dark coloured power hit the monster, it went silver, gleaming like metal. The attack hit it, and rebounded straight of it, slamming into Pluto with all the force she had put into it. She was flung backwards with a grunt of pain and hit the tiled floor with a smack and slid for several meters before stopping.

Uranus growled angrily, "URANUS WORLD SHAKING!" she bellowed and threw the planet attack to at the beasts head. Again, it went silver, mirror-like just before the attack hit it. The attack rebounded into Uranus and she too was thrown of her feet.

Neptune hadn't waited to see what happened to Uranus before trying her attack. She simply threw her wave of water at the beast, and was horrified to see the whole wave of water turn around and flow directly back at her. It washed her off her feet and she was caught in the flow for a second before she managed to call the attack back. She was dropped to the slippery wet floor next to Pluto, who had managed to sit up in time to get soaked.

"You wont beat it by sitting on the ground, you know." Said Serena conversationally from where she was standing off to the right of the monster, near the entrance to a jewellery shop.

Uranus spun round to face her, now on her feet again. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Serena shrugged, "Helping out, I guess."

The monster, not liking being ignored and at that moment decided to show them who was boss by picking on the stupid human who wasn't running away screaming. It swung back a great clawed paw and swiped at her.

"Look out! Screeched Neptune, jumping to her feet.

Serena whipped her head round, saw the claws coming towards her and held out a hand, only it wasn't her normal hand, it was a white gloved hand. A shield sprung up between her and the monster.

The paw, about half the size of her, slammed into the glowing white barrier and bounced off. The dragon-like creature jumped backwards with a surprised snarl.

Sailor Moon glared at it.

"Do you mind?" she snapped, "I was talking!"

The three outer Senshi stared at her in amazement. So did the monster.

_Well I guess I better get rid of it before I explain._ Sailor Moon thought, annoyed. She'd let her guard down then, forgetting where she was in an attempt to amuse herself at the outer scouts expense.

She put her hand up to her tiara and pulled it from her forehead. Her crescent moon glowed and she smiled at the surprised beast.

"How long did you think you could terrorise other countries and not have me here to stop you?" she asked angrily, "where the Negaverse goes, so do I."

She had known of the other attacks across the world, but had never heard of any other sailor scouts stopping them. Since she had always heard of the incident after the fact, she had basically ignored them, hoping that they meant nothing.

But, apparently not.

"Moon tiara magic!" she yelled, and flung the glowing disc, putting all of her body behind the move and sending the disc forwards with lightening speed.

The large dragon-like creature tried to use its mirror defence, but the tiara cut through it, slicing it in half with a blinding flash. The three outer senshi watched numbly as it crumbled into dust and followed the tiara with their eyes as it did the round trip and Sailor Moon caught it. The glowing disc faded and reshaped itself back into her tiara and she put it on.

"Have the attacks doubled lately?" she asked, as the pile of cosmic dust flickered and disappeared, "only there have been no attacks in Japan for the last little while."

The three scouts stared at her, dumbfounded for an instant, and then Pluto shook herself and answered with only a little croak;

"No more in frequency, but they've been harder to take care of."

Uranus found her voice, "you appear out of nowhere and you're sailor moon and you're Serenity? This is too much."

Sailor Moon shrugged, "its not like I wanted to come here." She complained, "I was at the time gate, looking for you, Pluto, when I was transported here."

"You were looking for me?"

"At the time gate?"

"Transported?"

Sailor Moon grinned, "not here, lets get back to your place."

* * *

Endymion jerked his chains again, just for good measure. But there was no change; they were as solid and unbreakable as the last time he had tried, and the time before that. And he was prepared to bet if anyone tried to break them using magic, it wouldn't work either. He sighed and glanced around. He was in a dark cell, no more than five meters across, and not very high, he'd bumped his head as he was pushed in. he was by himself, and could only assume that the others had been given similar cells to him. 

Some thing scuttled by on the floor, and he resisted the urge to move away from whatever it was, and kept still. He couldn't see it anyway, it being extremely dark.

He rattled his chains again. At least they made some noise, it was very quiet, and what in the name of earth was that smell?

He sat back and remembered how Sailor Moon had acted when he had first met Beryl. How scared she had been. He wasn't surprised now, after meeting the queen face to face. There was something incredibly evil and scary about her eyes, so cold he shivered just thinking about them. And the way she talked about Serenity, with a sort of distorted longing that made his skin crawl. He had literally wanted to sock her in the face after hearing the way she talked, and he usually was abhorred by violence against women. Not that he really thought of Beryl as a woman. But still.

He wondered then, about the General's, and their reactions. Whatever they were keeping from him had to do with Beryl, because he had never seen anybody so frightened before in his life. Whatever they knew that he did not must have some bearing on the situation.

Mercury knew it to, because she had made a few cryptic comments to Beryl, things like, "you wont be able to do it again. They'll be ready for you."

To which Beryl had replied, "but will you?" and Mercury had fallen silent.

Endymion wondered again at the strange connection between the scouts and the generals, and what the connection was to Beryl and Serenity. So many questions!

He sighed and leaned against a wall he was thankful he couldn't see and waited for something to happen.

* * *

"So you just touched some of the dust and it took you here?" 

"Well, yeah. See, my parents have gone missing, and I wanted to find them, so I thought if Pluto was at the time gate she might let me go back in time and see what happened this morning."

There was silence for a second, and Serenity continued, "but since Pluto hasn't totally re-awoken to her old powers yet I'm going to have to do things the old fashioned way."

"How so?"

"Well, I guess I'll start with asking questions." Mused Serena, looking off into the distance for a minute.

She shook herself, "anyway, I'll show you how to teleport and then be on my way. That way when I need some help I can call you and you can get to Japan within the minute. And then I guess I'll go find out what happened to my parents."

**AN; still not much happening, but hey I guess I can be excused. i have everything planned out! next chapter! why is it serenity feels like she is responsible? and what happened to her and endymion at the end?**


	12. Chapter 12

**AN; yeah I know I know. Like, how long has it been? Actually, I'm writing this the day after I posted the last chapter, so I hope it's not that long! If it has been, then whoops, sorry and please forgive me!

* * *

**

**Dream;**

_She raised a thin hand with claw like nails and pointed at him, spoke some arcane words and a blast of black lightening burst from Serenity ran down the great marble stairs, her heart beating so loud she was sure the whole world must hear it. She ran because behind her… _

_Behind her._

_It was awful. There weren't enough words to describe what she had just seen, just run from. She wasn't even sure that she believed it herself. _

_Her vision blurred with salty tears and she stumbled and fell, landing with a crash and a cry at the base of the great marble staircase of the place that had been her home._

_Not her home now. Not anymore. There was nothing that made it home there now._

_She swiped her eyes with a sob and staggered to her feet. Which way should she go? She looked wildly in every direction except behind her._

_That way._

_She turned towards the city, or, what was left of the city. The capital of Lunaria was now in ruins. She began to move through the fallen rubble and debris, stumbling and tearing the hem of her dress._

_"Serenity!"_

_She spun, and fought to keep her balance on the uneven terrain._

_"Endymion!" she cried, relief washing through her for an instant._

_And then realization struck, and in horror she spun away from him, disappearing into the darkness before he could speak._

_He called after her, but she kept going, swiping away more tears, but unable to cry because she needed her breath for running._

_Her headlong flight came to an abrupt end when she fell, tripping over something._

_She lay where she had fallen, and let her tears fall freely._

_Dead._

_All of them._

_All except Endymion, who was coming now to take her like the Generals had taken the Scouts, or so she assumed._

_She let out a low keening cry that was swallowed in the deathly silence of the moon._

_"Don't cry, my princess. There is nothing to cry about."_

_Serenity didn't move, didn't make a sound, but she heard the voice and was afraid._

_"I promised you I would take care of you." The voice continued softly. There was a soft rustle; silk as a figure moved._

_Serenity sat up, and wiped teary eyes to look up at the woman wearing the black silk dress._

_"You did this?" she asked, her voice trembling like a leaf in the wind. "All of this?"_

_Beryl looked down at the shaking princess and nodded seriously, " I had to make you understand." She said gravely, "How much I was prepared to do to look after you."_

_"Look after me? You killed my family! And my friends! My guards! How is that looking after me?" Serenity cried, jerking to her feet, and clenching her fists in her skirts._

_Beryl looked at her compassionately, "They never appreciated you like I did. They never looked after you, or loved you like I did. They never understood you. I did!"_

_"No!" serenity cried, stepping away from her, no longer caring wether she lived or died. "You didn't understand! Not them, not me! You never understood me at all!"_

_Beryl was silent for a second, and then she stepped forwards and reached for Serenity._

_"Get away from her."_

_Endymion levelled his sword at the red headed woman he had mistrusted since the beginning of this._

_Serenity stared at him with wide eyes, "but I thought…" she whispered._

_Beryl sighed unhappily, "No, your lover didn't succumb to my magic like his generals did." She gave Endymion a glare cold enough to freeze his insides but he didn't move._

_She smiled suddenly, as Serenity backed away from her slowly, "and they did succumb so easily. So, so easily. It wasn't at all rewarding."_

_"Rewarding?" cried Serenity, "Beryl what has happened to you? You never used to be like this!"_

_"Oh yes I was!" growled Beryl, Serenity's assertion hurting her somewhere deep inside, "I was always like this! I thought you understood that! I thought you loved me anyway!"_

_Serenity's began to weep again. "I understood you were different! But this…. I would never have befriended you if I had known!"_

_Beryl's face went ashen and Serenity understood her mistake. As much as Beryl was evil she did love her, and in her own twisted way had tried to show her that._

_"Well I guess I have no choice then." Said Beryl as Serenity finally reached Endymion's side and took his hand._

_"Your lover will have to die, and you will have to come with me. I will show you what it means to be loved. I will make you love me."_

_"I wont let you do that." Endymion stated coldly, stepping in front of his petite blond lover._

_Beryl raised an eyebrow, "and how are you going to stop me?"_

_her finger and_

Serena awoke to the sound of her own screams, sitting bolt upright in her bed.

"Sere!" cried Sam, bursting into the room.

His sister was as white as a ghost, sitting up in her bed with her hair plastered to the side of her head with sweat. She was panting and her eyes were wildly staring about her, as if unable to believe where she was.

But that wasn't what concerned him. No, what concerned him was the dark mist swirling around her shoulders and head in an animal-like eddy.

"Serena!" he cried, and she looked up at the mist.

She let out a shriek and ducked/rolled out of bed to land on the floor with a soft noise and joined him at the door, gripping his shoulder and propelling him with a shove out of harms way.

Then she spoke in a language that he only vaguely recognised as Lunarian, it had been so long since he had heard or spoken it.

There was a small white flicker in the room, like lightening reflected on a wall, and the black mist disappeared.

* * *

Beryl opened her eyes and looked at the small gathering in front of her. All of them where on their knees on the cold marble with their hands chained to rings in the great black marble slabs. There was not enough length on the chains for them to stand, so they had to kneel or sit. She ran her eye over the group. There was the bastard prince whom she would soon take great pleasure in killing, that is, as soon as he remembered totally who he was. Then there was the four scouts that had been, or so she had thought at the time, the biggest hurdle to her own princess. She had been wrong. The great scouts have been undone so easily, so willingly, by love! It had sickened her to think that these servants had once been all that stood in front of her darling and death. To think that someone so weak as them could have even begun to protect her then dear Serenity! And then there were the Generals; they looked scared. So they should be; Beryl was still annoyed that they had broken the spell after they murdered the scouts. Perhaps if they had remained under her influence the Silver Millennium would have ended differently, with Serenity by her side. And then there were the two cursed cat-like humans that she had hated from the beginning. They were glaring at her, those two, knowing what she had been doing with her eyes shut. And then, the last two of the group, the princesses parents this time around. They were non-enmities to Beryl; she really didn't care what their part was in this, she simply used them as one more piece of the game. One more knife to twist into Serenity's back.

Oh, it was true the old adage, how quickly love turns to hate! She would have given the world for Serenity to look at her the way she had looked at her pathetic prince once upon a time. But after realising it was never possible, or at least, Serenity would never freely love her, Beryl had begun to hate the blond with a deep abiding hate that quickly took over all her life. If it had not been for Metallia giving her the power she need to show the princess what she felt she would still be dead.

She smiled, a twisted, gloating smile. Serenity would die, and this time, Beryl would rejoice to see it.

"She didn't like what she saw. Her little brother had to save her from her own sleep. She won't rest for days now." She told them, wondering idly what reactions she would get.

Luna's eyes narrowed, "What did you do to her?"

"Its obvious," spat Mercury, from where she was chained to the marble floor, "Beryl's always been good at creating and sending nightmares. She's sent one to Serenity."

Beryl clapped her hands lazily. "Well done Mercury, well done. Shall I send you one as a reward for getting it right?"

Mercury paled and suppressed a shudder. Beryl laughed and clapped again. "No? Oh I am disappointed."

"Did you bring us out of our cells just to gloat or is there a reason we're here?" demanded Jupiter.

"Nope." The red head said, "I just wanted to gloat."

She didn't give them a chance to respond to that, but stood and descended the stairs from the raised dais where she held court.

"There was something else, actually. I wanted to give you your memories back."

* * *

Serena stared at her white face in the bathroom mirror. She had thanked Sam and had sent him back to bed, after putting a dreamless sleeper spell on him. Now she was alone she could let all her anger and frustration out.

She had not found her parents, and had to assume that Beryl know held them too. Why she had left Sameth behind, when she knew he was the actual heir to the Lunarian Throne was beyond her. And taking her parents! Beryl had a knife in her heart and was toying with her, twisting slowly.

Waiting for her to snap? Probably.

She glared at her reflection, ignoring the white cheeks and red eyes. It was bloody well working. She had a brother under her feet, no Luna and Artemis to help and she had no idea where the other two rainbow crystals were.

Or where the entrance to the negaverse was that her 'rescuers' had used to break the catalyst for the spell that had held her in a comatose sleep.

Or even if there was a way into the Negaverse that she could use on her own without the benefit of the Sailor Planet Power or even Kitty Power (as she termed Luna and Artemis' magic, much to their annoyance). She always had had that power as a backup when jumping realms before, without it she wasn't sure she could do it.

Dammit!

Cussing silently in both Lunarian and English, she filled the basin with cold water and grabbed a face washer. Dipping the washer absently mindedly into the cold water, she mused that perhaps it would just be easier to send Beryl a message telling her she wanted to swap the crystals for the scouts, generals, her parents, Luna and Artemis.

Beryl wouldn't agree, but she would meet with Serenity, and probably try to kill her. But if Serenity could free the scouts before then…

And another thing to worry about. Beryl would have figured out by now that the scouts did not remember who they were; with the exception of Amy, the girls only knew they were Sailor Scouts. Beryl would create and twist memories for them.

She slapped the dripping washer onto her hot face and gasped at the cold water, banishing all thoughts of evil and battle for the moment.

What she really needed was something sinful, like ice cream.

She exited the bathroom and stopped.

Pluto was sitting on her bed, her shoulders hunched and her eyes blank.

"Pluto?" she asked, surprised that the time scout had arrived without her knowledge (teleportation was noisy unless you were good at it).

Pluto looked up, and Serena, and Serena at once felt her heart leap for joy and twist in pain. That's why she hadn't heard her teleport; this Pluto was good at it.

The eyes that her friend had turned to her were ancient eyes, eyes that knew of time again. Pluto had remembered.

"Oh Trista." She whispered, and came to sit next to the scout.

Trista sighed. "Amara and Michelle haven't remembered yet. They don't even know I'm here."

Serena couldn't think of anything to say, so she hugged the older woman.

Pluto was shocked for a second at the unexpected embrace, but willingly returned it.

Staring of into the distance, Serena said with feeling; "If I had had my way none of you would have to join this battle now. The Generals and I were quite happy putting along making amends for our past mistakes. There need not have been any reason for you all to be involved. We would have happily watched you all our lives without you knowing who or what we were. It was everybody's right to live without this threat over them and that's what we wanted. Now… well, I may still be able to make it happen, but there will be battle first, one that all will need to fight,"

Pluto looked at the girl she had known only slightly personally in the Silver Millennium, but whom she had watched often. She had seen the death of the girl and indeed, the end of her happy Silver Millennium coming, and had cursed herself to the grave until Serenity was reborn again. But this princess didn't know that. In fact, no one knew how Pluto had died.

Luna still hated her for not warning the kingdom of its impending doom. She was right to, in Pluto's opinion; what use was being a time scout if you were not able to save your friends?

"I have mistakes to atone for too, Serenity. I will join you."

Serena looked into her eyes for a second, wondering what was going through Pluto's head. "Will you help me return them to the innocents they were before this began?"

She asked.

Pluto frowned, "I'm not sure they will be happy about that, but if you order me, I will do it."

"Good." Said Serena and rose, "come and have some ice cream with me."

* * *

_Endymion began to remember almost immediately after Beryl announced that fact._

_Endymion paced through his mothers favourite garden with an angry stride. The stupid woman! Setting him up like that with that stupid Spanish Princess who couldn't speak a word of Basic English and who was about as attractive as a tic in a dog's ear._

_How his mother thought they would make a god couple he would never understand._

_Even his best friend Malachite had been no help, just laughing uproariously when Endymion told him. Some friend. And then the mongrel had gone and told the rest of his guard._

_Endymion's lip twisted mirthlessly. They would be paying now. This little jaunt of his into the gardens that surrounded his parents palace would have them searching for him for hours, and Endymion knew these gardens better than the four general (what cause did they have to wander the paths of the garden in the company of the fairer sex?)._

_He headed to a part of the garden where the walls were so thickly covered with vines that the door he was looking for took quite some minutes to find. Once he did find the door that was hidden by vines it took a few more minutes to open, even when he put his considerable strength behind it the portal remained stubborn for a second._

_Once in the hidden garden he shut the door and grinned. He had been a mere boy of 7 when he last visited here. He recalled lazily as he sat on one of the old stone benches under the willow he had climbed often that it had been his favourite hiding place when he didn't wish to spend the glorious summer afternoons with his stuffy tutors._

_The garden had been well tended then, but after he had broken his arm his father had had the garden locked up. Endymion had forgotten about it until he had been trying to think of a place to hide until his guards got into enough hot water._

_It was childish, perhaps. But he was feeling belligerent. Serve them right if he got them into trouble. They should be keeping a better eye on him anyway; they were his guards after all._

_And they wouldn't get into much trouble. Even his parents saw Endymion as a difficult prince. This episode would be put down to him simply being the young, rash boy he was._

_So what? It wasn't like he didn't know it was wrong, and when he was king he would change and show them all just what his kingdom meant to him. Until then he would continue having fun._

_He stood and walked with a relaxed step to the large water feature with the old stone fountain with the cherubic angel that had long since been silent. He remembered the bubbling noise with a small smile._

_Then he frowned. There was something else he remembered. He had come here once as a child, at night, when he had not been able to sleep. He had met a little girl here, he remembered, frowning, wondering why he had forgotten. She had been upset or crying, he wasn't sure now. But she had been lost. He'd told her not to worry, that his mother would take care of her, to which she had responded that she preferred her mummy. He had say with her a while, and talked about childish things. He wasn't sure what they had said now. It was a long time ago._

_But looking back with an adult's perspective it occurred to him he should have worried about a little girl; she had been lost and alone. She had been pretty, even through the chubbiness of a baby, but her big blue eyes that would tease any man once she was grown. If she had ever grown up. He wondered now if she had._

_"I feel I know your face, but I cannot think from where."_

_A woman's voice broke him from his reverie with a start. He looked up and felt his mouth drop open in astonishment._

_Standing on the other doe of the fountain and eyeing him quizzically was a young woman. And she was one of the most beautiful creatures he had ever the grace to see. She was a head shorter than him, but stood straight, making the most of her height. She was wearing a mystically cut white gown that hugged her thin frame tightly to the hips and then fell in a cascade of white silk to the ground. The bodice of the gown was jewelled lavishly with pearls and glittering stones that could only be diamonds._

_But it was her face that held Endymion's attention. Oval and pale framed by a golden cascade of fine hair held back by pearl barrettes and pins, it was the loveliest face he had ever seen. Her mouth was small and red, and her nose had a cheeky upturn. But her eyes were her crowning glory. Large and as blue as sapphires they shone even in the dim light of the moon._

_In her turn Serenity saw a tall young man with uncommonly good looks wearing what appeared to be black velvet with gold ribbing and highlights. His eyes were a few shades darker than her own and his hair was a black as his clothes. A dark spectre indeed!_

_He found his voice at last; "I…" he stopped and frowned, and stepped away from the fountain to look at her better, "I think I do know you." He said, but with the hint of disbelief in his voice that told her he was unwilling to believe what the thought._

_She frowned at him, trying to remember the face. She would remember a face as handsome as his surely! A man with such pretty eyes would stay with her._

_"Have you been in this garden before, Miss?" Endymion asked, still unable to believe that the woman he had been thinking about may be the one in front of him. He had been right too; those eyes that had shown such promise in a child's face had made the woman's face hauntingly gorgeous._

_Her sweet face puckered into a perplexed frown and he watched her take stock of her surroundings. He glanced about himself, wondering what she thought of the slightly run down garden that a few moments ago had been charmingly wild, but now was an embarrassing tangle of shrubs and trees._

_"I feel is should know this lad." She said, bending and peering at the little angel in the fountain pool. She straightened and turned, and looked to the west, where there had been a glorious mosaic of flowers and animals pressed into a wall. Endymion looked too, it was covered with vines now._

_She crossed to the vines and brushed some aside, peering at the small coloured tiles, now cracked with age._

_"I remember this." She said slowly, and turned to look at him quizzically, a little frightened he thought. "How did you know I had been here before? As I recall, I met a little boy here, but he promised not to tell…" she trailed off, and turned those wide eyes on him. He grinned._

_"I keep my promises, My Lady. I have not told anyone I ever met you."_

_She was silent for an instant. Then she laughed and clapped her hands. "Goodness, that fate should bring us back to the same place we met twenty years later! How extraordinary!"_

_"It is indeed," agreed Endymion, "especially since this is the first time I've entered this garden in about fifteen years."_

_"Why, it is all the more extraordinary then!" she cried, and shook her head with a chuckle." I think I shall have a word with Pluto and ask her what fate means by it."_

_He didn't move, but he did freeze inside._

_Pluto._

_There wasn't a person alive who didn't know what it meant if you could talk to Pluto, or one of Pluto's Time Lords. Only those affiliated with the moon kingdom could speak to them._

_That explained her sudden appearance; she was one of those magical creatures from the moon kingdom._

_"I don't suppose you'd mind telling me exactly where I am?" she asked politely._

_"You don't know?"_

_She shook her head._

_"You're on Earth, milady, in the city of the King."_

_"The City of The King?" her voice dropped a little in shock._

_"In the gardens of the Royal Palace, in fact." Endymion continued watching her reaction._

_"Oh dear. I've always wanted to see Earth, but never thought to come here…" she seemed to be speaking to herself. He watched her. She thought for a second and then flicked her gaze to him without moving her head._

_"Please tell me that that uniform you're wearing isn't a royal outfit." She said flatly._

_He couldn't help but smile, "Actually, it is."_

_She swallowed visibly, "and your title…?"_

_"Prince. Or High Prince if you want to be specific" he bowed. " High Prince Endymion William Terran at your service, milady."_

_He straightened and watched her back away like a frightened rabbit._

_"But milady," he continued seriously, "you have no cause for alarm, whatever your planet of origin, for as I said earlier, I keep my promises. I will not tell anyone you were here."_

_She relaxed immediately. Something about this man told he she could trust him. But then she tensed again, "what if I came from… say…. The Moon?"_

_He leaned against the mosaic wall and looked at her with his characteristically penetrating gaze._

_"I don't hold the same views as my Father on the matter of the moon and its inhabitants. I try to live by the live and let live motto where other kingdoms are concerned. Though the official Terran take on the Moon Kingdom is that they are all evil charlatans and should be treated accordingly."_

_She seemed to measure what he'd said for a second, and then nodded, as if coming to a decision._

_"In that case, I am Princess Serenity Tsuki Lunaria." She sunk into a graceful curtsy._

_He blinked. Fate was playing tricks tonight._

**AN; next time I hope to have the meetings of the generals and the scouts for you to peruse. As for now, thanks to all those who have reviewed, thanks very much to my beta reader Prom Firebringer and hope to hear some constructive criticism! **


	13. Chapter 13

AN; well, it did take a while, eh? My apologies to Prom Firebringer, for reasons of expediencyI put this up straight away without sending it to you to beta read for me. SORRY!

* * *

Endymion ceased to think of himself as Darien or Tuxedo Mask then, and only thought of himself as Prince Endymion. 

In that instant after Beryl spoke he remembered everything; how what Luna had told them a few days before had been wrong, but only because she hadn't known the truth; it had been the Moon Kingdom who first extended the hand of friendship; not earth. He remembered too the way he and Serenity had begun to meet often in the garden at night and how their romance had sprung up from those few short meetings, how he had been flabbergasted by the fact that she commanded the entire Moon Royal Army, and how Serenity had surprised him by standing up to her friends when they decided that a Earth Man was not a good choice for her.

And how Mina had followed Serenity one day, and her reaction. The leader of The Sailor Scouts had been horrified to find her friend meeting an earthen prince. She hadn't liked him much to begin with. She had been angry at Serenity too, he remembered.

So had Lita, who quickly managed to extract the information about Serenity's disappearances from Mina, and who tagged along to meet Serenity's beau. She had been especially cold towards him until Serenity ticked her off. Endymion almost smiled remembering the way the diminutive blonde had given the Amazonian brunette a right royal dressing down.

For a while it seemed that neither side were getting anywhere; Serenity tried without success to convince her friends and guards of Endymion's true character, while Endymion found it harder and harder to sneak away from the ever more efficient generals (who were getting increasingly suspicious).

It had been Serenity in the end that had bought about the change that would prove cataclysmic to both kingdoms. It had been accidental. She had made the comment to him once that she would like to meet these generals that he always spoke of. He had demurred, saying they wouldn't be very happy.

But it had happened anyway.

Mina frowned, memories flowing into her mind like water. Images, sounds, names, faces… all mixed together in a jumble for an instant and then organised themselves chronologically.

_She sat on one of the stone benches in the dark garden, her burnt orange dress neatly arranged around her, and glowered at the man across from her. Prince Endymion was studiously ignoring her, but Serenity kept sending her warning looks._

_Beside her Lita was sulking because of the dressing down she had just received. Serenity's voice echoed through her head; 'Since it has been years since you saw fit to concern yourself with my affairs, and the only royals you have anything to do with are my brother and my mother, Lita, I fail to see how it is any business of yours what I do in my spare time! I do not concern myself with your private life; pray do not concern yourself with mine!'_

_Mina wondered exactly why she was so worried about the blonde opposite her. It was true; they had not been overly concerned with each other's affairs in years._

_But really! Fraternising with an earthman! No matter how handsome! It was too much!_

_"When were you going to tell us this is where you three have been sneaking off to?" demanded an angry voice, and all was still in an instant._

_A column of white/blue mist appeared from nowhere beside a tree nearby, and a figure in a blue gown stepped from the mist. Endymion started, but the girls were well used to Amy's mode of transport and didn't flinch._

_Amy looked at them all and put her hands on her hips, looking mightily miffed._

_"I'd like to know why they're on earth more than anything." Said another voice conversationally._

_The ground near where Amy had appeared went red, glowing with heat. Waves of heat rose from the patch of ground and without warning there was a figure there, hair rippling upward with the heat of her arrival, and a woman in a deep burgundy gown stepped forwards._

_Serenity sighed deeply, "Endymion, Prince of Earth, meet Amy, Princess of Mercury, and Raye, Princess of Mars." She introduced wearily._

_Endymion stared at the two new arrivals and Mina grinned, liking the fact that he was put off stride. But Mars and Mercury were just as surprised as him._

_"Waitasec, Prince of Earth? You're Terre and Terra's son?" demanded Raye hotly, staring at him._

_Endymion stood and bowed, "a pleasure to meet you Sailor Mars. Serenity has told me a lot about you."_

_"Has she now?" asked Raye, sending a wry glance in Serenity's direction, "funny, I haven't heard a thing about you."_

_"Mainly because this is the first time you've been within speaking distance to me for the last five years!" retorted Serenity hotly, standing. Again there was the look in her eyes that she had given Lita a few minutes ago; accusing and angry._

_Raye was taken aback by the aggression in Serenity's voice. She never heard the Commander raise her voice. Even in the midst of heated political and moral debates Serenity put forward her views in a quiet but firm manner, she never yelled at her men either, and Raye knew the soldiers under her command found her quiet dressing downs more frightening than a bout of enraged shouting. The Commander In Chief of the Royal Moon Army was as in control a person as you could find, and yet here she was almost shaking with suppressed rage._

_Serenity ignored her look of astonishment, and Mina watched with grudging admiration as the Commander spun theatrically to ensure she had everyone's attention. Serenity had always been good at holding your attention once she got it, even though her voice never rose above normal level._

_"I would like to know why the four famed and usually committed Sailor Scouts have abandoned their posts as protectors of my mother and brother to follow a princess who has nothing to do with the succession of the kingdom they have pledged their lives to guard! I would like to know why the four personal bodyguards of my mother and brother are here, instead of guarding my family! I would like to know what got you suddenly so nosy when it comes to my private affairs!"_

_She had been pacing as she talked, and glancing at them, and off into the garden at regular intervals. No she came about to face them, hands on hips and an angry gleam in her eye; "What the hell do you think you're doing abandoning your posts to chase after me?"_

_There was silence. Amy, Lita and Raye looked at Mina. Default leader._

_Mina sighed, "I am sorry to invade your privacy Sere, but Beryl got in touch with me. She said she was worried about you."_

_"Beryl did?" the wind seemed to o out of Serenity's sails for an instant, and then her gaze hardened again. "Right. Well I'll have a word with her right now I think."_

_She turned and pointed off into the darkness; "and as for you lot…" she waved a hand, her crescent moon glowed and her eyes flashed white; a sign she was using her small amount of moon power._

_Four startled yells, four figures being lifted from the various spots they had been hiding, four chagrined faces as Serenity dropped them on the grass in front of Endymion._

_Malachite, Nephrite, Zoisite and Jadeite stayed where they fell for an instant. They were used to magic, indeed, they practiced it themselves, but to have another perform a spell on you without your consent can be shocking, even something as relatively simple as a levitation spell._

_"Don't you know it's rude to hide in bushes and listen to other peoples conversations?"_

_Mina looked at Serenity in surprise. The angry woman of a few seconds ago was gone, in her place stood the cool, calm and collected Commander in Chief. Mina who always managed to wear her feelings on her sleeve felt jealous. Wondering how the princess had managed to swallow her anger._

_Endymion looked at her in surprise too; her controlled and level tone surprised him; had never before heard her use it. She must indeed be angry if she was controlling herself so firmly. For the first time he fully appreciated the fact that his lover was indeed a commander in of men in battle._

_Malachite looked up at the woman in white, about to make a smart retort, but a flash of orange caught his attention. Sitting opposite Endymion was a woman; he had seen her from a distance as he hid of course, but up close she was the most gorgeous being he had ever seen. Mina of Venus was wearing a deep orange gown with a transparent silk scarf tied around her neck. Her glorious sun-kissed blond hair was loose, falling over her face in a silk wave, and framing her deep blue eyes nicely._

_Their eyes met, just for a second as he got to his feet, and to the surprise of both, Mina blushed, and turned her gaze away. Somehow that action made Malachite blush too._

_Nephrite scrambled to his feet, his cheeks burning. Not only did Endymion now know they had followed him, but Endymion's lover had caught them out! He glared at the woman angrily. Serenity was unfazed._

_"Generals, May I introduce Princess Serenity Lunaria, CC of the Royal Moon Army?" said Endymion, finally speaking, and standing to introduce them._

_All four generals stared in amazement at the woman. This was the commander of an army?_

_There was silence, and then,_

_"But you're a woman! And a princess!" spluttered Nephrite haltingly._

_"What has been female got to do with it?" demanded Lita hotly, gaining Nephrites attention. He stared for an instant. Wow. Now that was a woman. Tall, and generously proportioned she was glaring at him with electric eyes. Dressed in deep emerald green leggings that showed of her legs, a pale green linen shirt, a deep brown tunic that came mid way down her thighs and high boots she would have looked like a wood nymph; but she also wore a sword. Definitely a woman of action._

_"This is Lita, Princess of Jupiter and Sailor Jupiter when need be." Introduced Serenity calmly._

_Lita glared at Nephrite for an instant longer, and he decided to try one of his best smiles. Lita blinked at the stunning but slightly chagrined smile; what was he smiling about?_

_"You'll find Serenity is the best Commander the Moon has had in a long time. And as for being royal, as she said herself a few minutes ago, she is not the heir apparent and never will be." Said Amy calmly._

_"Princess Amy of Mercury, aka Sailor Mercury when called. She's also the mind responsible for the new antimatter propulsion system in our shuttles." Introduced Serenity, a small tinge of pride in her voice._

_Zoisite stared at the demurely dressed and spoken Mercurian. She made an accurate statement according to what he knew of the Moon and her Army. They had indeed suffered from unable and unintelligent commanders in the past. He had heard of no such reports of this Commander._

_He wondered whether or not this woman in blue would tell him about the antimatter propulsion system. He was dying to know about it, and had been since he had heard of it._

_"And as for our Commander being a woman, your Queen is a woman and she commands her own regiment. How is that any different from Serenity commanding an army?" fired Raye._

_"And the pyro here is Raye, Princess of Mars and Sailor Mars as often as not." Said Serenity, twinge of irony creeping into her voice._

_"Don't call me pyro!" Raye said hotly, stamping her foot._

_Serenity's lip twitched and Endymion realised she was trying not to smile. He was confused. She had told him that she had had a good relationship with the girls, years back, but that it had waned lately. But here she was teasing Mars like an old comrade?_

_"Anyway," continued Raye, her eye twitching, "gender has nothing to do with it, so pray keep it out of the equation, Master Nephrite."_

_"Hear, hear." Said Jadeite, feeling that the girls little lecture demanded an agreement. It earned him a nonplussed look from Raye, which made him blush._

_Nephrite blinked in surprise. Master Nephrite? Serenity saw, and smiled openly, "oh yes, Master Nephrite, we know you names. We have kept and eye on you for many years, ever since we learned of your magical abilities."_

_Endymion blinked, that was a new one._

_"When we learned that Malachite had the power to manipulate rock, Nephrite the power to call on the stars for aid, Jadeite the power to use force fields and Zoisite the power to manipulate plants, powers that are very similar to the Scouts own we decided to keep an eye on you. For it is the duty of those with the power to ensure that others with power do nit misuse their power, don't you think?" Said Serenity lazily._

_"Nah," said Endymion, looking across at her with an amused expression in his eyes, "you just wanted to stickybeak."_

_She shrugged with one shoulder, and shared a smile with him that made everyone else feel like intruders on a private moment. "That too." Serenity admitted. She turned to the scouts, "come ladies, its time to return to the Moon."_

_She stepped up to Endymion and with no embarrassment at all kissed him full on the mouth, and he had no problem responding._

_"Same time tomorrow?" he asked when they broke apart._

_"Of course." She turned and nodded to the Generals, "gentlemen."_

_They bowed politely._

_She turned to the girls, "Lets go."_

_Lita held up a fist crackling with lightning and flung it at the ground near her feet. Next instant she was engulfed by a flash of lightning, and disappeared._

_Mina rolled her eyes, "show off," she muttered, but pressed her right index finger to her forehead, and her Venus symbol began to glow. The next instant, glowing gold ribbons seemed to come out of the symbol and wrap around her until you couldn't see her anymore. For an instant she stayed there, and then the ribbons collapsed to the ground, empty. They lay where they had fallen for an instant and then disappeared._

_Amy called up her mist by holding up her palm and blowing on it as if she was blowing a kiss and her mist blew off her hand and covered her from sight before slowly dissipating on the night breeze._

_Raye yawned and stretched, and didn't seem at all surprised when a fissure opened up beneath her and she fell into it. A red light glowed from the split for a second, and then it shut, and the ground looked like it was never there._

_Serenity raised her eyes to the heavens, "their all show offs really," she commented to Endymion, the controlled expression she had worn a few moments ago gone, "they could just disappear without the effects, but apparently, its more fun."_

_"So what's your effect?" Zoisite asked, curious as always._

_"Moon beams."_

_She smiled goodbye to Endymion and placed her hands over her heart and seemed to concentrate for a second. Then a beam of light seemed to shine around her, and glancing up the generals saw that indeed, the moon was shining on her daughter._

_Endymion watched as she slowly faded, becoming see-through and then totally disappearing. The beam of light faded and they were alone._

_Endymion sighed; he hated being away from her like this, and having to keep their romance a secret. But the fact remained that the Moon and the Earth Kingdoms simply did not communicate._

_Perhaps it was time to change that._

_

* * *

The next memory that popped into his mid was a distressing one. Their first fight. _

_"Dammit Endymion! I can't just go up to her and ask her if she's practicing dark magic! She's my best friend for Selene's sake!"_

_Endymion fought to keep his voice calm, "Sere I understand how you feel, but…"_

_"No buts! She's my best friend! I know her! Beryl would never put herself at risk by using dark magic. Nor would she hurt anyone else for that matter!"_

_They were in Serenity's rooms on the moon. The Princess was pacing, looking harried. She was wearing what Endymion now knew to be her usual dress, Black leggings, high black boots, a tight white tunic that came halfway down her thighs and a short black jacket in concession to the inclement weather. He was seated on one of the lounges, wearing his official regalia because he had just come from a meeting with Selenity._

_"Look Sere, I know she's your friend, and I know how much you trust her, but there's something about her that sets me on edge."_

_"Your worried that she sets you on edge? Dammit Endy, that's nothing to accuse her of being a dark magic user with!"_

_"I know, that's why I thought she might talk to you!" he was loosing his temper quickly now. Why did she refuse to see that the woman was sinister?_

_"No. I will not. Beryl and I have been friends for over a decade. If you feel a threat it does not come from her."_

_Yes it does, Endymion thought angrily._

_"Why can you not see what it right in front of you!" he cried, standing, "the woman is strange and sinister. And she's getting worse."_

_"So now I'm blind am I?"_

_"You know that's not what I meant. Don't twist my words!" he growled._

_"You're twisting one of my friends to satisfy your wish for something to happen!"_

_"I am not! She's already twisted!"_

_"Yes you are! Your bored and you keep wishing for something to happen so you can do something you're good at! Something that doesn't require sitting in a room talking to a stuffy old woman all day!"_

_"That's not it and that's not fair! You know I don't mind being in conference with your mother, so don't make this about her just like everything else is!" he snarled, surprised by the venom in his own voice._

_She blinked, nonplussed. "What do you mean?" she demanded, firing up again._

_"Nothing. Forget I said anything. I'm going for a walk."_

_He turned and strode out the door. Perhaps a couple laps of the gardens would cool him down._

_She swung around as he left, looking for something, anything to kick. Spying a chair that looked solid enough to provide a challenge, she strode over to it, and with a viscous lunarian swearword she gave the wooden thing a powerful roundhouse kick, sending it flying, it hit the wall and smashed, and she felt better._

_

* * *

Lita sat under a tree on the bank of the great lake chewing a stalk of grass. She was trying desperately to relax, but was finding it impossible. And had found it impossible to relax since the arrival of the Ambassador of Earth. _

_Her lips twisted. Selenity still had no idea that it had been her daughter that had originally suggested the change in the relationships between the earth and moon. Selenity would never have any idea that her daughter was responsible for the new political relations that, while helping both kingdoms, also made it possible for Serenity and Endymion to marry._

_She admired the fact that Serenity was prepared to bend to bend her situation to her benefit._

_And wished she could bend the situation she was in some other way._

_She put her head in her hands and groaned._

_"Problem, Lita?"_

_Lita jumped. The Commander was standing a little off to her left, hands in the pockets of her tunic. She had been at the Soldiers barracks, Lita knew; that's what she did every Thursday morning._

_Lita sat back and stretched out her legs and pursed her lips, thinking._

_Serenity raised an eyebrow. The usually forthright Lita was hesitating. Interesting. And blushing! With a small smile sat down next to her._

_Lita was silent for a minute longer, looking out over the beautiful lake and the surrounding gardens._

_"I'm on edge." She said finally, "and I don't really know why, I just feel like I'm walking on glass and every step I take is either so calculated that it looks fake or so carefree it looks like I'm a…. a…. buffoon!"_

_Serenity was silent, contemplating an reply._

_"You suddenly care very much how you look towards people?" she asked, restating what she believed to be the gist of Lita's statement._

_"Not people." Said Lita and sighed, "I'm the same as I ever was with most people."_

_"But not with…"_

_But Lita would not be drawn out so easily. She just gave Serenity a look. The Commander chuckled; "alright. Can I guess?"_

_Lita shrugged._

_"Male."_

_Lita gave her the look, and she chuckled again, "of course male. Ok. Tall. Long brown hair… lovely blue eyes… the only person to ever beat you in unarmed combat… am I getting close?"_

_Lita put her head in her hands. "Am I that obvious?"_

_"Only to me, and perhaps Mina. She is after all the scout of love."_

_"How did you figure it out?"_

_"You studiously ignore him as much as possible. You barely look at him when he speaks. The others think you're being rude, but I figured you were too polite for that."_

_Lita groaned. "What am I gonna do?"_

_"Well, lets figure this out," Serenity got comfortable, "since I know you fairly well I can say that this isn't the sort of thing that is going to go away if you ignore it. Besides, Nephrites a good fella so I'm not going to dissuade you in anyway."_

_"You wont. Mina will."_

_Serenity gave a heartfelt sigh. "Yes. Yes I realise that. Mina has a bit of a complex about the eathans. We've seen that in the way she treats me and Endymion. But even since she is the leader of the scouts I wouldn't let her discourage you from looking for the right fella. Nephrite might just be that person."_

_"He might not too, what happens if it doesn't work out?"_

_"Then you've learned from the experience, and you're wiser for next time."_

_Lita looked across at her, "is that what you told yourself when you first started seeing Endymion?"_

_Serenity shook her head; "No. I didn't realise that I was in love with him until much later in our relationship than he. It just suddenly hit me. And I realised something else, not much later."_

_"What?"_

_"No one else would do for my life."_

_She looked across the lake, and Lita watching her felt the deep happiness that Serenity felt almost like a fire radiating warmth on her._

_"I'm just lucky he felt the same." Added Serenity, "Because unrequited love is not my thing."_

_"Aw, I dunno… I can sorta see it, the commander of the greatest army in the galaxy pining away for the one man she can't have…" Lita cried theatrically._

_Serenity grinned, "Shaddup."_

* * *

It hadn't been long after that that everything had begun to darken, and life had changed. There had ben a brief period of happiness, and then everything had plunged into darkness. Endymion, and all the girls with him, felt a pang of pain that was quickly overcome by a deep, penetrating hate. 

_It was all her fault._

Beryl watched with a smile, knowing what they were thinking.

* * *

She finally had all of them! 

Serena looked proudly at the aray of crystals infront of her.

"Cool!" said Sam, looking over her shoulder at the kitchen table where the crystals sat.

He was silent for a second, and then;

"What now?"

Serena looked at him over her shoulder.

"I dont know, Sam, I really don't know. Mother never told you how the crystal become one from seven, did she?"

Sam shook his head.

"No, me either." the ex-commander sighed.

Later that evening, after she had packed the crystals away upstairs safely in a drawer, she sat down to think about what to do.

If she didn't know what to do to make the crystals combine, then the chances were that Beryl didnt either. She might be able to trade them for her friends, and then once they were together again they could all go back and fight the negaverse.

But it was a big chance to take, and she could imagine Luna and Artemis scolding her after they found out what she did.

She dragged a hand across her damp forehead and sighed. These hot days meant she didnt sleep deeply in what little uninterupted sleep she got. the dreams were worse, and Sam had to shake her awake alsmost nightly now.

It frightened him, she knew, to see his older sister, the one person who had remained calm almost to the end on the moon, falling aprt as she was. but there was nothing she could do about it.

Afeeling came over her then, a coldness, sweeping up her spine and spreading across her whole body. She began to shiver uncontrollably. A wave of nausea punched her in the gut and she bent double, dry retching.

In the next room, Sameth let out a choking cry, and she staggered to her feet. A weight hit her then, landing on her shoulders and knocking her to her knees. She cried out in horror. She had never felt so weak!

Sameth cried out too, and she knew whatever was happening to her was happening to him as well.

And then, as suddenly as it had come, it was gone, and she was left gasping for breath on the floor and drenched in cold sweat.

An image came, unbidden into her mind. Seven shining stones.

_The Crystals!_

She dragged herself to her feet and staggered upstairs.

The drawer in which she had locked the crystals earlier was open, it contents strewn around the room.

The drawer itself hung from the desk. She went to it. Inside lay the crystals, quivering, and flickering thier different colours. As soon as she neared, they brightened, and thier quivering turned to a rattling.

"What is it?" asked Sameth from the door.

She shook her head. "I don't know."

She reached for the crystals, and they rattled harder in thier drawer. An impossible wind grew in the room, and Serena's skirt and hair whipped madly. Sameth gripped the door, terrified.

"_What do you want me to do?"_ shrieked Serena above the wind, knowing instinctively, as Sameth did, that the Seven Rainbow Crystals wanted something and were trying to draw thier attention to it.

They shook harder in repsonse.

_"I don't understand!"_ she sobbed, and collapsed to her knees over the drawer, tears welling up in her eyes, _"I know you want to help get them back but i dont understand you!" _

Tears ran down her face, curiously unhampered by the strong wind still blowing.

"Help me." she whispered, and a tear fell off the bridge of her nose into the drawer. the sound it made when it hit the scarlet crystal was so impossibly loud, so ringing in nature that she jumped backwards in fright. Sameth heard it too, and ran to her side as she scrambled back from the drawer.

Adeep golden light spewed from the drawer and Sameth and Serena could only watch as thier salvation took shape.

* * *

AN; whoah, al ong one! hope you enjoyed! review please! tell me what you think and remember that any cnstructive criticsm is welcome. sorry for any spelling errors! 


	14. Chapter 14

**AN; YES! This story is still alive! I am SO SORRY for not updating! I REALLY AM! But anyone who's ever squished a four-year degree into three knows what's going on with me at the moment! Just remember that the scouts' memories are only what they themselves saw in the Silver Millennium and I hope that this chapter will make more sense. They don't know about what happened after they died, including the fact that the generals killed themselves when they realised what they had done, and they also don't know what happened to Serenity. For all they know she may have lived to be an old maid before being reborn. Ok? Got it? Goody. Read on, Mac Duff!

* * *

**

Mercury, who already knew everything that had happened in their last lives, could only watch as her friends, already on their knees, fell sideways or forwards as their memories returned. She closed her eyes when Lita started to sob, and listened as Raye let out a low, keening cry and began to rock backwards and forwards. Mina was breathing hard, eyes shut in pain. Her great, deep wheezes of pain made Mercury cry quietly.

Suddenly wondering what the Generals were doing, she lifted her head and looked up. They were silent, still as statues, but you only needed to look at their faces, at their haunted eyes, to know that they felt the girls' pain as if it were their own. Malachite seemed shorter than before, and Nephrite seemed to trying not to cry. Jadeite seemed to be trying to tear his gaze away from Raye's hunched form. Zoisite she noted, was watching her. The look in his eyes gave her a stab of pain that went deeper than she would have thought possible.

Endymion, she noted, stared straight ahead as he remembered, frowning sometimes, but making no noise to show any pain he may have been feeling.

Beryl was smiling. She watched Mercury lift her head and look around. It didn't surprise her that Mercury had already remembered, but it did disconcert her a little to see the little blunette staring at her with such hate. Hate somehow didn't suit the diminutive young woman.

As far as expertise went, Beryl knew she had very little to worry about with the Scouts. They may remember the power they possessed in their past lives, but they did not possess it now. It had taken them years of specialised training to reach the point where they had been when they died. These girls in front of her may remember the training, and the power, but it would be some time yet before they managed to posses the discipline of their magic again. And therefore some time before they were a threat.

As for the Generals… Beryl knew they could be a problem. She had used them in their last lives. They hated her, and they had been fighting alongside Sailor Moon for some time now. They were almost as powerful as they had been in the Silver Millennium, and their anger made them more tenacious.

_Endymion_… Beryl watched him stare straight ahead with that aristocratic look he did so well. He had been fighting, it was true, but he did not seem as powerful as he had been. True enough, his powers had always been hard to see. Little practice on his part during the Silver Millennium had made most think him ungifted, but he had proved once or twice that when called upon, he had a power that could rival his generals put together.

"_You bitch!" _screamed Jupiter suddenly, leaping to her feet, her bonds breaking like brittle glass. "_You f bitch!" _She attacked without warning, and hurled a burst of thunder and lightning at Beryl. It vanished three feet from Beryl's face when it hit the zone of protection that Beryl's black crystal and staff gave her.

_Ah._ Perhaps the scouts would regain their powers quicker than Beryl thought. Or perhaps not. Jupiter was panting, and looked exhausted, and horrified that her power wasn't working.

"Language, my dear." Said Beryl lazily. "Why are you so angry, anyway? I simply did what needed to be done."

"What needed to be done?" Endymion choked, his blue eyes blazing with a deep rage and he leapt to his feet, his chains snapping. "_What needed to be done?" _

Beryl raised an eyebrow at him and he continued. "People died! Thousands died! Millions maybe! And that needed to be done why?"

"So you would appreciate what you had all the more."

She looked around at them, a secret smiled on her face. "None of you have given any thought as to how, exactly, she died? I'm surprised. I thought you, Mercury, at least, were quicker than this."

There was silence as everyone realised that they really didn't know how Serenity had died.

"She was of course, not meant to die." Beryl continued. "I had hoped to keep her with me." when she got confused looks she continued, "I loved her, you see. More than anything."

"You're crazy." Said Mars in disbelief.

"Probably. Shall I show you how Serenity died? I'm afraid I may not know all the particulars. You see, I died before her, so in effect I can only show you what happened up until the time that she killed me."

"She killed you?" for some reason this seemed to surprise Endymion.

"I can understand how that may surprise you, Prince, after all, she wasn't in any sort of fit state when you died. I flatter myself with that i suppose, but honestly, you saw her."

Endymion's eyes darkened with anger again.

Beryl lifted her hands and the room darkened. A dark mist grew above her head, and a picture formed in the mist. Serenity stumbling through rubble, one hand over her mouth. She was crying.

"You know," said a male voice conversationally, "I think she should have the choice of telling us in her own time."

A beam of white power split the mist and it vanished. Everyone turned.

Prince Sameth, heir of the Moon Kingdom and Silver Crystal was standing at the entrance to the great chamber. Behind him stood three Sailor Scouts, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

Beryl stared in disbelief for an instant and then laughed. "She sends her little brother to do her dirty work for her! How pathetic!"

Sameth didn't take offence, "Actually Beryl. She doesn't know I'm here yet. Do you think she would have let me go? Please. I thought we were in this mess because you loved her… doesn't loving someone also mean knowing them? Surely you would understand she would rather die than let me do this."

Beryl went white with rage. She was being talked down to by a little boy!

"_I do _not_ love her." _She snarled.

"But you used to." Said Uranus. "You were willing to destroy our entire galaxy to show her that."

"I do not love Serenity!" Beryl snarled, "I hate her! More than I have ever hated anyone before! Even you, you disgusting scout!"

Uranus' eyebrow twitched but she did not comment.

Sameth raised the gold staff in his hand. On the end the silver crystal glittered.

He watched the realisation his Beryl's face. The seven rainbow crystals had been found.

"My sister an I have not been sitting idly by while you held our friends captive." He said calmly. "The Silver Crystal has been found. It answers my call."

He pointed the staff at Beryl who flinched. _Its impossible… the crystal… it can't be true!_

"You are in violation of the Treaty of Kingdoms, and I shall have to deport you to whence you came." He announced with all the authority of a king, even though he was only a boy.

Beryl let out a startled laugh, "you seek to dislodge me from your universe by spouting the Treaty of Kingdoms? The Negaverse is not bound to that treaty, we never signed it!"

Sameth glared at her, "In the name of the Moon, I will seal you away!"

And he attacked.

* * *

She knew what he had done, as soon as she woke. She hadn't needed to find the note he left, but she read it anyway.

_Dear Sere,_

_I know you will be angry with me, but I have done what needs to be done. I have taken the crystal and have gone to the Negaverse. Uranus, Saturn and Neptune came to me and asked what to do. They are with me. Do NOT follow me. You've done enough fighting. If I don't return, you will rule. That's an order, Sere, ok? _

_Love,_

_Sam._

She curled the note into a ball with a growl. _You will rule._ Rule what? The Moon Kingdom was nothing but rubble. Stupid kid. You couldn't rule a dead kingdom.

And Saturn too? Where had she come from? Serena suppressed a shudder at the thought of the destructive power in the dark scout. Sameth wouldn't know what to do if Saturn went berserk…

She sighed and transformed into Sailor Moon.

"Pluto." She called, and the purple scout appeared immediately.

"Coming with me?"

Pluto nodded, eyes steely.

Sailor Moon set her shoulders. "Here we go."

* * *

Endymion leapt to his feet as Sameth charged the evil witch, and dived at one of the guards standing over them. He ducked the lance the soldier threw at him, feinted sideways and drove his fist into the soldier's stomach, and then smashed the man to the floor. Picking up the lance he spun it and plunged the lance into the creature's heart. It turned to dust.

The next guard came from the right, and bore down on him with a sword. Endymion blocked the sword with the lance, and kicked the ox-like creatures legs out from under it before driving it through with the lance.

The instant Sameth appeared Mercury began to struggle with her bonds, desperately trying to free herself. The second Endymion charged a guard, the other guards moved into action. One headed for her and she desperately jerked at the chains binding her to the floor.

Of course, she needn't have worries. Zoisite saw the danger and called on his power. Vines burst from the floor, tripping the guard. Zoisite didn't usually use the physical manifestation of his power, preferring to use the raw energy to obliterate his enemies. But the vines that answered his command were quicker, and he needed speed.

He reached Mercury and grabbed the chains binding her to the floor and with a jerk of his wrist they snapped. He helped to her feet "are you ok?"

She nodded, met his eyes for an instant before looking away, "Yes, thanks."

She turned from him, and ran to the Tsukino's, in time to kick a guard away from Ellen and break the neck of a monster that had been going to attack Kenji. Zoisite followed her and broke the chains of the Tsukino parents, and pushed them into a corner where they would be out of the way.

Venus needed no help to escape from her chains. She leapt to her feet and let out a battle cry, and her chain appeared in her hand and she roared into the fracas around her. Malachite joined her, watching her back as always, even though she may not have needed it. He grabbed the nearest beastie to him and snapped its jaw. It exploded into dust.

Sameth's first shot of power at Beryl ceased a few feet from her when it hit the protection shield of the dark crystal. She smiled at the boy, and Sameth glowered at her for a second before spinning the sceptre and trying again.

_Crack. _

A deafening sound, that of cracking glass, whipped through the large cavern, and al fighting ceased. Scout, General, Human, cat and beastie alike turned their eyes to the throne.

The crystal on the end of Beryl's twisted wand had cracked, and was now glowing feebly.

The wall of protection around Beryl vanished.

She screamed as Sameth's burst of white hot power slammed into her, driving her back into her throne, which cracked and broke around her. Sameth poured more power into his attack, creating a sustained beam of power burning across the room and into beryl.

"_Metallia!" _Shrieked Beryl, as the throne disintegrated totally and she was throne back against the cavern wall with enough force to splinter stone.

All light in the cavern went. It just disappeared, like a light had been turned off. Even the light from the Moon Prince's attack disappeared, but Sameth could still feel the power draining from him; the attack was still there.

Standing alone in the dark with no idea where their friends and allies were, the Scouts, Generals and Endymion felt the first flickering of a deep, soul-destroying fear that would soon consume them.

**

* * *

AN; I cant say how sorry I am that I haven't updated for ages! I know I've lost reviews over this and I'm sorry to have disappointed. I know its short but the next chapter is half written. Sorry again to Prom Firebringer, again for reasons of expediency I wanted to put this up straight away.**


	15. Chapter 15

AN; next instalment…. Only a few more to go (from Season One anyway). Hope you enjoy!

* * *

The ground shook, and they could hear rock crumbling around them. A noise filled the air, a hissing, like steam escaping from a kettle. There was a rumble and the ground shook again. Standing in the dark they felt helpless and alone. They didn't have any more than a vague idea of where the others were, and it was impossible to move with the floor rocking so.

Venus shook off the fear that had been holding her still; as the leader of the scouts it was up to her to do something!

She pulled out her henshin wand and raised it in the air, concentrated for a second and a small light, a pin prick of day, shone at the top of the orange wand.

"Scouts to me!" she called.

She heard movement then, and knew that it wasn't just the scouts heading in her direction, but it couldn't be helped.

A hand took hers, and she started.

A tiny pinprick of green light appeared in the air above her head.

Jupiter. Loyal, quick witted Jupiter.

"We need a torch." Muttered Jupiter next to her. Venus smiled.

"Did someone ask for a torch?"

Mars, fiery, devoted Mars. She stood next to Venus now, holding her leaders hand, her own wand aloft, her own bead of hope shining.

A snarl from her right, and thump and a burst of swearing. Malachite.

"Malachite?" Endymion's voice.

"I'm here, so's a beastie." Malachite grumbled, and they heard another thump, another burst of swearing.

"Gotcha!" Came from Nehprite's voice, Venus felt Jupiter's hand twitch in hers and squeezed it.

A shriek from behind them - Mercury.

"AMY!" yelled a dozen, panicked voices.

"I'm alright," a shaky voice came from the darkness, "I'm ok. Found a Youma."

Then her point of light appeared next to Jupiter, shining blue against black. Jupiter smiled even though no one could see it as Mercury took her hand, and gave her friends fingers a reassuring squeeze.

On Amy's left, a golden glow, a crescent moon appeared, well below shoulder height.

"Prince Sameth?" Endymion's voice, now closer, "How are you?"

"Fine, Fine. And before you ask, she's asleep." He had just dropped the attack on Beryl, unsure if he was even hitting her anymore.

Mars bit her tongue and swore and said, "She's asleep while we're fighting?"

"She had no choice." Uranus' voice was heard, and a light blue bead of light appeared above and behind Sameth's moon. Mars felt a hand take hers.

"Yeah, we sorta…. knocked her out…" Neptune's green next to Uranus.

"Where's Saturn?" asked Endymion.

There was a beat of silence, and then Saturn's quiet, flat voice came from beside Neptune, "I'm here. You cannot see my light; it's black."

_Duh. _

"Ok, so we're together. Now what?"

Silence. A silence that seemed to stretch for eternity and fear began to creep up their spines again. Endymion shivered. This darkness made him feel so helpless, so alone, even though he knew the others were there.

"Let's try our Planet Power attack." Suggested Mercury hopefully.

"Alright. I'll go first." Said Venus.

"VENUS POWER!" the ground beneath them shook, and a hair thin line of gold shot out of the bead of power above Venus' head and rocketed upwards.

"JUPITER POWER!" a hair thin green one joined the orange, meeting it in a thin v at the apex of the beams.

"MERCURY POWER!" a blue line, shining in the night joined the two above them. Looking up, Endymion began to hope.

"MARS POWER!" a red line joined the three. There was no a medium sized ball of light at the apex of the beams.

"URANUS POWER!" the light blue power of Uranus joined them, and the ball of light grew larger.

"NEPTUNE POWER!" Neptune's light arced upwards and the ball grew. Looking around, Endymion could see the outlines of things around him. "Its working girls!" he cried, "keep it up!"

"SATURN POWER!" no one saw the dark light of Saturn zoom upwards, but the ball a power grew more.

"MOON PRISM POWER!" a thick gold beam joined the girls, the crystal's power lighting up the immediate area. Endymion looked at his allies, saw the way the light made them look; alien, unknown. He shuddered.

Then something occurred to him and he looked around. The Youma had all disappeared. He could see the Tsukinos, Luna and Artemis. But of Beryl and the Youma there was no sight. He frowned. That did not bode well at all.

Far above them, the light began to push the blackness back. A circle of light appeared around the ball, and grew, slowly expanding outwards. Through this hole in the darkness they could see light again.

They all smiled hopefully and poured more power into their wands, sending it upwards with lightening hearts!

But the circle of light stopped growing. The smiles died on their faces.

Then the ground bucked and rolled, driving everyone to their knees.

The circle began to shrink.

"No!" yelled Mercury, her computer out, "The darkness is growing stronger! We don't have enough power! This negative energy is too strong!"

"Try harder!" yelled Nephrite desperately.

The girls did and their beams of power strengthened and thickened, but only for a second. They were just too exhausted.

"It's not working!" shrieked Mercury, on her knees. One hand was tapping ferociously at her computer, the other still holding her wand aloft in the air.

"How can we help?" demanded Malachite, "we can't cast our powers like you but surely we can do something! We have to!"

Mercury thought desperately, but no matter how hard she tried she just couldn't see a solution.

"It's no good!" cried Venus, looking upwards. The darkness had almost pushed their power back to nothing. If they continued pouring their power into it like this they would be spent.

The ground shook again, and those that had gotten back to their feet fell again.

A howl echoed through the darkening cavern, an inhuman, hauntingly close howl that rose and fell and then died away with a rumble.

"What the hell was that!" cried Jupiter, whipping around to stare into the darkness.

"Something big." Muttered Endymion peering around him into the dark.

"And evil." Said Mercury softly, looking at her computer. "And it's coming this way! We've got to get out of here!"

A powerful wind rose through the tunnel, whipping the hero's hair, skirts and cloaks into a frenzy.

Mars looked at her friends, the fear on their faces mirroring her own, and remembered how powerful she had been in the Silver Millennium, how they had all been near invincible. And now….

It was pathetic!

"_This isn't fair!_" She shrieked. "_This just isn't fair!_"

Everyone turned to stare at her. Her tiara had disapeared and the Mars symbol on her forehead glowed brightly in the gathering dark.

"Whats she doing?" asked Sameth, confused. The Girls were never seen without their tiaras while in uniform.

"_Mars Star Power!" _She bellowed, and her uniform seemed to morph around her, becoming sharper, less sweet-girl. She held onto her wand with both hands and shut her eyes.

The ground under her began to glow blood red, and an instant later her hair was lifted upwards as a beam of red light materialised around her and arced heavenward to blow through the dome of darkness over them.

Mercury caught on quickly, as usual, "_Mercury Star Power!" _she yelled, rocketing to her feet and holding up her want with both hands. Her tiara disappeared and her uniform changed too, and then the beam of blue light materialised around her and shot skyward to join Mar's fiery column.

"_Venus Star Power!" _Venus changed too, and her column of golden light hit the darkness too.

"_Jupiter Star Power!" _

"_Uranus Star Power!" _

"_Saturn Star Power!"_

"_Neptune Star Power!" _

"_Cosmic Moon Power!"_

The darkness shattered into fragments, and faded away, and their power wrapped around them and their allies, healing wounds and strengthening each other.

* * *

Pluto and Sailor Moon appeared with no theatrics, no noise and no light.

Sailor Moon looked around. The Negaverse was as bad as she has imagined it to be. Dark fields stretched as far as the eye could see. She and Pluto were standing on the top of what could be termed Beryl's Palace, a huge black monolith that had been hollowed out and carved into a building resembling a medieval castle.

"Which way?" she asked Pluto, who pointed silently to their left.

They had barely gone three steps when Sailor Moon's knees gave way. She collapsed, one hand over her mouth, the other on her stomach.

"Princess?" cried Pluto, alarmed, bending over her friend and princess, "What is it?"

"Sameth…" sweat beaded on the girls brow, "he… he's using the crystal…. So much power…. It's making me sick!"

As if in testimony to her word the ground shook, and they heard an inhuman howl.

"Oh gods." Whispered Pluto, looking around, "that was a Wulven!"

Sailor Moon nodded, and struggled to her feet. _Why can I feel it? Why does it affect me so? _She wondered. She had never been able to feel it when her mother used the crystal…

The monolith roof to their left exploded in a burst of brilliantly radiant colours, sending out a shockwave that knocked them off their feet. Sailor Moon landed on her side and wrapped her arms around her head to protect herself from rubble.

She heard Pluto swear in a language Sailor Moon didn't know.

When they lifted their heads and blinked dust from their eyes there was a large hole blown in the roof nearby.

They exchanged looks. The Scouts had been busy.

Getting to her feet, Pluto heard a scream echoing from the hole.

She frowned, "Was that Luna…?"

Sailor Moons face was tight. Together they hurried to the edge to look down.

They were too high up to see anything for sure, but down in the dimness things moved and they heard voices yelling.

Pluto looked up at Sailor Moon, now standing across from her. The blond nodded.

"One… two… three…"

Pluto jumped into space.

Rushing wind.

The floor, rising towards her swiftly.

_Smack. _

She rolled to break her impact.

On her feet again.

_Where was Sailor Moon?_

A wave of nausea hit the Time Scout, a sickening lurch in her stomach. She went down on one knee, despair washing through her. The timeline she had tried so hard to preserve, the future she had tried so hard to set in motion for her friends had gone.

She couldn't see her bright future anymore. The future was unfathomable now. In darkness.

* * *

Above her, Sailor Moon had not jumped on three. Nor had she jumped at all. In fact, she had taken a step away from the hole.

"Hello Metallia." She said heavily. Pluto, she knew, would be disappointed.

"_Princess." _

"You were expecting me then?"

"_Why do you think I did not give Beryl more help than she needed? I could have destroyed all your pitiful friends in an instant. But I let them play. I knew I would need my strength when I battled you." _

"I don't have the crystal. I am no match for you."

* * *

There was a moment of wild elation when the darkness disappeared. The cavern may still have been dim, but the darkness was gone.

The moment was short lived though.

A roar and a yelp of shocked pain.

"_Artemis!" _Luna's voice, stunned, painful.

Endymion whirled to see the white haired man pinned under the claws of a gigantic wolf like creature with paws as big as Artemis's head, and eyes a glowing red colour. Artemis was busy trying to breathe, and so had no chance of helping himself.

The prince drew his sword.

"PSYCHIC WHIRLWIND!" yelled Jadeite.

His glowing whirlwind whipped forwards, joined by Nephrites razor sharp stars.

Endymion charged and swung his sword, bringing it down with all his might on the beasts shoulder. Blood spurted, and he felt the hot stickiness of it on his arm.

He jumped backwards before the beast could retaliate.

They hadn't done much damage, he thought bitterly. This thing wasn't an ordinary monster.

As if to prove his thoughts correct, the beast lifted his head and seemed to suck in a breath of air.

And then he couldn't breath. Not because he was choking on something, or because he was being choked. There was simply no air to breath in. He gulped nothing and tried tobreathe again and again. Blood began to pound through his ears, and his own heartbeat seemed to echo eerily through the room. He could see out of the corner of his eye Jadeite, gamely trying to reach a choking Mars.

There was a thump nearby, someone had collapsed.

Black dots appeared in front of his vision, and a he lost his balance, letting go of his sword and crashing to the ground.

Panic was shrouding his mind now, and darkness crept slowly inward in his vision.

_He was going to die. _

Without ever being able to tell her that he loved her, that he remembered her. That he wanted to be with her more than he wanted anything.

_Whooooooooooooooooosh._

Air. Sweet, fresh, cool air. He felt it on his cheeks, in his hair. It was the most beautiful thing he had felt in his life.

He breathed in, a deep gasping breath that seemed to be echoed by everyone in the room.

His vision returned and he looked for the beast and his sword in the same glance.

His hand had closed over his sword hilt before he realised what he was seeing.

The huge wolf was lying on its back, well away from Artemis. Its head was twisted to one side and blood running from its mouth and pooling around it in a black lake.

On its chest stood a woman he had only met once, a long time ago.

She was wearing a dark coloured sailor outfit, her green hair swaying still in the aftermath of some action.

In her hand there was a key, but not a key he had ever seen before. Long, almost as long as Prince Sameth's staff, she held it at the beast's throat. Her eyes were as expressionless as her face.

"Pluto." The name was breathed by Uranus.

"You've remembered?" asked Neptune. Trista had not seemed to remember before she and Uranus had left.

The huge Wulven moved.

No one saw Pluto move, however.

_Crack._

The beast collapsed into dust, leaving Pluto standing on solid ground.

"No, I remembered before you did." She said flatly, "I-"

"_You!" _Luna's voice hissed like a cat. _"You! What right have you to be here?"_

Pluto frowned at the woman, "Is now really the time, Luna? We have a Negaverse to beat."

* * *

"_Ah, but my dear child, you never needed the crystal to use its power."_

Sailor Moon was silent, still not looking at the creature; she did not want to see.

"_Did you never wonder why? Why could you access the crystal while you were miles away?" _

"Never entered my head." Sailor Moon said lightly.

"_Strange. One would think that someone who has seen as much as you have would wanted to know." _

It was automatic. She said it before she could stop herself. "Know what?" and then she gave herself a mental kick in the pants.

"_I thought you would have wanted to know that…. But no…. I see that now. Your duty to your friends and family has always stopped you from becoming a glory seeker. How entertaining!"_

Sailor Moon was silent.

"_Just think Sailor Moon, Princess Serenity, the Great General of Lunaria, shying away from her destiny." _

Sailor Moon's jaw was clenched so tight it was aching. But she didn't say anything and stared resolutely at the horizon.

"_I'm sure you always knew." _Metallia continued, "_That you were the true heir to the Lunarian Throne. It would have been glaringly obvious to anyone who knew you and your brother well. Your talent obviously surpassed his, even then. But now, well, you are more powerful than he ever will be. Your anger makes you so." _

Sailor Moon finally turned to look at the dark entity. Her eyes had gone blank, and her face was expressionless. Metallia felt, somewhere deep at her core, a tiny prickling of fear. This woman was indeed, very, very angry.

* * *

"You have no right to be here!" Luna screeched from where she was propping up her injured husband, "No right to call yourself a scout! It's your fault! All of it! And you've been sitting at your gate all this time watching us fight and loose! How could you do that to us? To her? She was your friend! You watched us die!"

"Not through choice I didn't!" yelled Pluto, her face red with an angry and shamed flush, "Do you think I wanted to watch you die! Of course not! You are all my friends and allies! Beryl broke my staff first! Do you think she would have attacked knowing that I could have undone it all if I chose to? No! She attacked me first! I was left to watch as you all died!"

There was silence, and Pluto continued in a calmer voice. "And I have only been recently reawaken, Luna. You and Artemis are the only ones who have lived through the centuries, awaiting the return."

Sameth stepped up to Pluto, his face angry. "You wouldn't have come unless you were asked to. Serenity sent you, didn't she?"

Pluto bowed before replying, "Yes, my prince. We came to-"

"Wait, 'we'? She's here?" Demanded Endymion, "Where?"

Pluto sucked in a deep breath and looked skywards.

"She's left Beryl to us, while she takes care of Metallia."

* * *

AN; well there you go! Longer than last time! Hope you enjoyed folks! Thanks to my Beta Reader Prom Firebringer! Lol. See you next chapter! 


	16. Chapter 16

AN; bows head in shame I have no excuse. Forgive me all the same?

* * *

Anger was an interesting thing. It gave power, incredible power, but it also weakened. An angry person was a thing to behold, their raw power and energy seeming to burn everything around them. And yet, when the anger died, the person was left weakened and alone. All that power was gone, swept away, and the human was left weak; ready to be plucked. That's what Metallia was waiting for; for Sailor Moon to unleash her anger, and to be weak, to be eliminated. 

Metallia liked anger. It gave her power over all creatures. She didn't feel anger; she no longer needed such petty emotions to give her power. Her anger was long gone, and in its place, something infinitely more disturbing. Darkness filled her, her very core was pitch. She no longer felt anything, and she revelled in it.

Yet this creature in front of her, this angry sailor, fought her anger. She pushed it back; denying herself the use of the power it gave her. A power she would need to have any chance against the queen of darkness at all. Metallia mused, not for the first time, that the human race was indeed a stupid one.

Sailor Moon stood watching the darkness in front of her, trying to swallow her rage. In the form of a dark mist, ebbing and flowing whether Metallia was moving or not, it looked terrifying, seeming to reach in all directions at once. But it had a core; Sailor Moon could see the vaguest of outlines deep in that dark flow - a vaguely human shape.

Taller by far than her, Metallia seemed to creep and move, even though her body stayed still. And even though the Negaverse was dark, as it had been for centuries, Metallia was darker.

Sailor Moon repressed a shudder.

"_Are you ready to fight, little princess?" _

Sailor Moon said nothing. She did not have enough power to fight Metallia as she was. And while her lover, brother and allies were fighting Beryl, she could not take power from the crystal. They would need all the focus of the crystal's power to be on Beryl. That meant that she had to survive until her friends defeated her.

**Survive! **

Without warning, Metallia attacked, and a cord of dark flames hissed from the mist towards her. Sailor Moon flipped sideways, landing well away from the attack. But Metallia was skilled. The flame rope twisted around and slammed into Sailor Moons shoulder from behind, sending a wave of burning heat into her body and knocking her to the ground. Sailor Moon smelt burning fabric and hair and fought the urge to throw up. Struggling into a sitting position Sailor Moon glanced at her left shoulder and arm; her breathing wracked with pain, and swallowed bile. Burnt flesh and fabric did not look pretty.

"_You are not fighting me?" _

Sailor Moon stood, wavered a little, but straightened.

Then the roof she stood on gave way, and Sailor Moon plummeted into the darkness below.

Then was jerked to a stop, mid air, about a metre down and lifted, blindingly, sickenly fast, upwards, far higher than she had been on the roof. Cold air rushed past her. And then a noise, higher than her. She looked up and shrieked an ancient spell in Lunarian, breaking free of Metallia's levitation spell, eyes wide with horror and disbelief at what she saw above her.

A pair of huge white wings burst from Sailor Moon's back, glowing slightly in the night. She turned her wings and dived sideways, and the creature that had been flying at her missed her entirely.

Puling herself up in mid air she stared at the creature. It was huge, as large as house, with twin leathery wings on each side of its red snakelike body, it curved through the air like a hot knife through butter. A dragon! Wasn't that impossible? They'd been extinct for over a millennia!

But then, so had Lunarians.

_Do you like my pet, little princess?_ Metallia's voice echoed through her mind. _She's nearly as old as me, and we've been friends since my imprisonment. _

Gritting her teeth, Sailor Moon fired a quick blast of arrow shaped white energy at the flying beast, singeing one of its huge leathery wings. It roared in fury, and charged her again, jaws open and flame growing in the depths of its being. But Sailor Moon was smaller, and faster, and its fiery breath missed her by a mile.

But its horned tail didn't. Whipping round, it caught her in the stomach, black horns ripping through her fuku like it was paper and digging into her flesh like daggers. She screamed in agony as it dragged her through the air before sending her flying

Rushing air.

Crash! Straight through the glass window on the roof of the cavern where her friends were, sharp pain all through her back.

More rushing air.

Wham! White hot pain lancing up her side as she hit the floor. She heard Metallia's screeching laughter dimly through the ringing in her ears.

She slid until she was bought up against a wall or pillar and stopped. Her wings were gone; she'd lost the concentration she needed to keep them there. Her small body trembled with pain and spasms of agony shook her legs.

Coughing, and blinking blood and sweat out of her eyes, she struggled to a sitting position.

Everyone, including Beryl, was staring at her, shocked or horrified, but she ignored them and looked upwards, to where the dragon was coming at her again, preparing to dive straight through the roof, its glowing eyes intent on its prey.

_Shheee-it._

"Hurry up!" she yelled across at her brother without looking at him, "I can't hold her off forever!"

And she faded from their sight in an instant. Endymion wasn't sure if she teleported or just moved quickly, either way she disappeared.

An instant later, there was a sonic boom above them, shattering more windows around the cavernous room and a howl of some extraordinary pain, a howl that seemed to stretch forever, deepening into a deafening roar and then dying away to a murmur.

Beryl, now blue skinned ad red eyed, smiled darkly, "I think that was your friend killing Metallia's favourite pet. Metallia will be mad now; you don't have much time left to save her."

Endymion tightened his grip on his sword. She was right.

"That means," he growled, "the quicker we defeat you, the quicker we can help her."

And he charged her with a roar of barely controlled rage. Ducking the first bout of dark lightening he sent her, he charged over the rubble and up the dais. He was barely a meter away from her and lifting his sword for the final blow when a dark shape reared up in front of him. Endymion reacted instantly and bought his sword up and blocked, and just in time too, for the shadow shape had bought up a dark crystal sword and tried to lop his head off.

Endymion smashed the dark sword away, and swung with all his might through the figure, cutting it in half. It faded into nothing, but there was another to take its place, and Endymion would have been seriously injured by this second one, except Malachite's ice sword stabbed it in the stomach. On Malachite's other side, Jadeite had just swiped a head off another shadow, and Nephrite was practising his left handed back swipe behind him somewhere.

Endymion looked around. Where there had been a mostly empty room before, it was now full of shadow creatures, presumably summoned by Beryl. The girls were a little way behind him, fighting their way towards him and Beryl, but keeping Sameth well within their protection. Luna and Artemis were at the back of the room, keeping the Tsukino's safe. He turned back to the battle, and charged again. Serenity needed his help and _he was going to save her. _

Well behind her line of shadow creatures Beryl watched them and laughed.

* * *

Metallia screamed when her dragon died, and Sailor Moon had the nasty feeling she'd done something hurtful to the dark creature. 

Metallia's mist now had a tinge of red to it. It was an angry tinge too.

Whoops.

Sailor Moon sent a prayer out to whoever was listening.

_Please let this end well. _

**What do you mean by that, exactly?**

A voice inside her head, not her own, but familiar.

Sailor Moon froze, before looking down at the red black mist that was slowly growing larger.

A silent tinkle of laughter ran through her mind.

**No, child, it's not her voice you hear. Don't you recognise my voice?**

Sailor Moon went cold. Yes, yes she did recognise that voice.

"_Mother!"_ She whispered in disbelief.

**Yes.**

"How is this possible?"

**I'm sorry. I can't tell you how. I'm here to help you, and that's all. Anything else is forbidden. **

"Help me? But Sam-"

**Do not be stupid, child. He has the Sailor Scouts, Luna, Artemis, your prince Endymion, and even those Generals you put so much trust in. **

Her mother didn't sound too impressed about her working with the Generals. But then, she hadn't been impressed with the Generals to begin with. The thought popped into Sailor Moon's reeling mind unbidden and distracted her.

**Concentrate, child. **Her mother warned sharply.

Sailor Moon jerked her attention back to the situation at hand. Metallia let out some sort of scream mingled with a moan and a circular wave of darkness shot out from her.

Sailor Moon yelped and threw up her arms to protect her face, grimacing as the shockwave almost threw her off her feet. A blast of heat so intense she actually felt her eyelashes singe washed over her steeling all oxygen from the air. What was left of her uniform and hair whipped frantically in the wind.

Her mother's voice echoed loudly through her head, but she didn't understand what the dead queen called.

When she opened her blue eyes, she let out a yelp.

Her mother was standing in front of her, in the long flowing white dress of Lunarian Royalty, her head cocked to one side. Her large blue eyes were fixed on her daughter, her expression sorrowful.

"I am sorry, my child." She said softly. Her voice echoed.

It was only then that Sailor Moon realised that she was no longer in the negaverse. Looking around, she didn't know where she was. It was daylight, a beautiful golden day, and she was standing in some sort of garden. There were trees, and all sorts of flowers, a fountain even, and she could hear birds.

"Mother, what…?"

She looked at her mother again.

Her mother looked down. Sailor Moon looked down at herself, and felt the world around her lurch.

She was see-through. She could see through her feet, her hands, even her stomach. Holding up a hand in disbelief she tried to touch her arm.

Terrified she looked up at her mother, hoping for some sign of reassurance.

"I… I'm…. dead?"

Her mother shut her eyes in a grieving grimace.

"Yes, and no. Metallia separated your soul from your body with that spell."

"Isn't that being dead?"

"Yes. But you can still influence the physical world."

Sailor moon looked down again. Beneath her feet the ground had disappeared, and she was looking down into the dark cavern. But she could still feel a surface beneath her feet, even though her eyes told her that there wasn't one there.

The dark cavern where her loyal friends were in the middle of a deadly battle with Beryl's shadow warriors.

Sailor Moon watched in horror as a shadow leapt onto Endymion's armoured back.

"No!" she shrieked, falling to her hands and knees on the invisible ground, "Endymion!"

She beat her fists against the glasslike surface.

To her shock, when her fists connected with the surface bolts of what appeared to be pure white lightning shot from them into the chamber below, and blew the shadows off her lover's back.

She froze.

So did the battle down below. The shadows retreated as one, back towards Beryl.

"Did you do that?" Endymion asked Jupiter, who shook her head with her eyes wide.

The prince looked at Sameth, "Did you?"

Sameth gave him an emphatic shake of his head. "Hell no."

Endymion looked around at his allies. "Did any of you do that?"

They all shook their heads.

Above them, Sailor Moon looked up at her mother, confused. Her mother smiled at her, "You can still influence the physical realm, like I said."

Sailor Moon turned back to the flabbergasted scouts below.

Mercury, can your computer tell us what that was?" demanded Endymion without taking his eyes off Beryl and her cohorts, and backing up slightly to come into line beside his friends.

Mercury was already tapping at her computer.

Beryl, as confused by this as the rest, watched, though slightly impatiently.

Metallia, knowing full well that the powers the dead Moon monarchs held could influence the realm of the living, watched and waited. She had seen it happen when Queen Serenity sent her son, daughter and friends into the future at the end of the Silver Millennium.

Sailor Moon felt a tingling on her left shoulder and looked up. Her mother's hand was resting on her shoulder, causing the tingling.

"We cannot send you back," her mother said softly, "but we can help them win."

Sailor Moon stood, frowning. "How?"

A shriek from Mercury drew her attention back to the chamber below.

"It was moon power!"

The other scouts frowned at her, wondering why that was so bad. Mercury was trembling and pale.

"What's wrong?"

Metallia already knew what caused the horror on the Mercurian's face, and decided to have some fun.

She entered the chamber through the hole that Sailor Moon had flown through earlier in the form of a dark mist. She sunk slowly to the dais next to Beryl, and took human shape.

Endymion and the others stared in a sort of horrified fascination at the tall, disgustingly thin, black eyed, white haired woman-shaped creature standing next to Beryl. Beryl had seemed alien, but compared to the human form of Metallia she was lame. Metallia's bones stuck out from leathery skin that hung from her like fabric, and her eyes were sunken and her hair had receded and now only hung from the back of her head. She wore a dress that seemed to be made from pure black shadows and that writhed, mist like, around her wizened figure.

"What your little Mercurian is trying to get her thick skull around is the fact that the burst of power that came from your little princess as she died."

It wasn't quite correct but it had the desired effect.

"You lie!" screamed Mars and flung a burst of flame with the strength of a volcano at the horde of creatures in front of her, disintegrating about half the shadow warriors.

Metallia just laughed.

"See for yourself. I believe that's her body behind you."

Endymion spun quicker than lightening.

The first things he saw were colours. Gold, red, blue, silver and white. Then his mind realised what he was seeing.

Sailor Moons bloody form hung in mid air at the back of the chamber. Her blond hair had come half out of her buns, and was hanging messily around her face. The scarlet jewels from the buns were gone. So was her tiara. He couldn't see her face, her hair was covering it. Her uniform was ripped and torn, the red bow all but gone, and the skirt tattered almost to rags. The silver threads from her white bodice no longer glinted, and it seemed as if even her hair no longer shone the way it had.

She was hanging too still and too limply for his liking.

As if in a trance Endymion moved towards her. He didn't notice as the scouts, generals and cats step out of his way, nor did he see the Tsukino's and Sameth staring at the body in horror. He heard nothing but a voice inside his head.

Please… let her be alive, let her be ok, oh, God, please! … She has to be! I love her! She has to be with me! Please… no…

He reached her, still without lifting his head. He knew he had to look up into that lifeless face that had once showed every emotion so clearly, but would not show anything. He knew he had to look up and see those gorgeous blue eyes that were ususally so full of laughter closed and lifeless.

It took all his willpower to lift his head, which suddenly felt heavy and cumbersome.

It was as he had feared. The lifeless face, the closed eyes.

Why did fate seem so content to leave him alone forever?

He reached up and caught her under her arms, and gently lifted her down to hold her against his chest. He buried his face in her hair and tried to push the pain away. Tried to fight the dark wave, but it refused to retreat.

"I love you." He whispered brokenly into her ear.

But she wouldn't, couldn't hear. He knew, the instant he had touched her he had known for sure. She was dead. Gone.

Suddenly his body felt weak, so weak he couldn't even stand. He slid to the ground, still clutching the limp form.

He looked down at her face, resting against his chest. His cheeks were wet, and he realised dimly he was crying. That wasn't right. He _never _cried. But he cried now.

Her face was bruised and dirty, but peaceful. And godamit, she was still so damn beautiful!

He brushed the golden hair from her pale forehead with shaking fingers, and his mind began to sluggishly pull out of the shock that had enveloped him like cotton wool.

Instead despair hit him in a black wave.

He pulled the body of his lover closer, clutching her like she was the last thing in the world.

And in his world, she was.

* * *

Sailor Moon beat her fists against the invisible wall as she watched her soul mate collapse. 

"Nnnnnnooooooooooooo!" she screamed in the agony of a lover watching her loved one die, "No, ple-ase, nooo! It's not fair! It's-just-not-FAIR!"

Her mother shut her eyes in pain after seeing the tears run down her daughters face.

Sailor Moon collapsed fully. She curled up and began to sob the great wrenching sobs of one who's everything was taken away.

He mother stood by her side, a silent sentinel. The last queen of the Silver Millennium saw in her minds eye, what she had watched from a similar position, a thousand years ago.

_

* * *

_

_-**flashback- (AN- some of this you'll remember, but just to rehash-)**_

_"You did this?" her daughter asked the red head, her voice trembling like a leaf in the wind. "All of this?"_

_Beryl looked down at the shaking princess and nodded seriously, " I had to make you understand." She said gravely, "How much I was prepared to do to look after you."_

_"Look after me? You killed my family! And my friends! My guards! How is that looking after me?" Serenity cried, jerking to her feet, and clenching her fists in her pale silk skirt._

_Beryl looked at her compassionately, "They never appreciated you like I did. They never looked after you, or loved you like I did. They never understood you. I did!"_

_"No!" Serenity cried, stepping away from her, no longer caring wether she lived or died. "You didn't understand! Not them, not me! You never understood me at all!"_

_Beryl was silent for a second, and then she stepped forwards and reached for Serenity._

_"Get away from her."_

_Endymion levelled his sword at the red headed woman he had mistrusted since the beginning of this._

_Serenity stared at him with wide eyes, "but I thought…" she whispered, looking between him and Beryl._

_Beryl sighed unhappily, "No, your lover didn't succumb to my magic like his generals did." She gave Endymion a glare cold enough to freeze his insides but he didn't move._

_She smiled suddenly, as Serenity backed away from her slowly, "and they did succumb so easily. So, so easily. It wasn't at all rewarding."_

_"Rewarding?" cried Serenity, "Beryl what has happened to you? You never used to be like this!"_

_"Oh yes I was!" growled Beryl, Serenity's assertion hurting her somewhere deep inside, "I was always like this! I thought you understood that! I thought you loved me anyway!"_

_Serenity's began to weep again. "I understood you were different! But this…. I would never have befriended you if I had known!"_

_Beryl's face went ashen and Serenity understood her mistake. As much as Beryl was evil, she did love her, and in her own twisted way had tried to show her that._

_"Well I guess I have no choice then." Said Beryl as Serenity finally reached Endymion's side and took his hand. Endymion squeezed his princess' hand reassuringly._

_"Your lover will have to die, and you will have to come with me. I will show you what it means to be loved. I will make you love me."_

_"I wont let you do that." Endymion stated coldly, stepping in front of his petite blond lover. Serenity gasped in horror._

_Beryl raised an eyebrow, "and how are you going to stop me?"_

_She raised a thin hand with claw like nails and pointed at him, spoke some arcane words and a blast of black lightening burst from her finger and slammed into his chest. He was flung backwards into Serenity, and they both fell._

_Serenity screamed in terror and scrambled to him._

_His laughing blue eyes stared up at her, all trace of emotion and feeling gone. His mouth hung open in a surprised 'oh'. And he was most assuredly dead, even though there was no mark upon him._

_"No…Endymion…please…" she whispered, and shook him. He didn't respond. "No!" she cried, and shook him harder. "NO!"_

_She collapsed, sobbing, onto her dead lovers chest. "No… no, Endymion, no…" fisting her hands in his shirt she tried to block it all out and pretend she was in a happier time._

_But it didn't work._

_"How pathetic." Beryl's voice said cold and steely, breaking into her pain. "I would have thought that you, of all people accepted death when you saw it. You've seen it enough on the battlefield. And to think that you, the commander of the greatest army in the universe would collapse so?"_

_Serenity flinched, as if she had been hit, and raised her head a little, staring unseeing at the rubble all around._

_Then she blinked her tears away, and her gaze hardened and focused. She might be the only one left, but she would fight until the end. It was her duty. And duty was the only thing she had left now._

_She stood, and turned to Beryl._

_Beryl smiled, "Ah, there's the commander we know and love. It's about time." _

_Serenity said nothing. _

_Beryl's face changed, she looked agonized. _

"_I'm so sorry, Serenity, I had to make you understand." _

_Serenity nodded. "I understand." She said her voice hoarse from her tears. _

_Beryl stared at her hopefully. "Truly?" _

_Serenity nodded, and tried to make her eyes forgiving. "Of course. You and I are so similar. I know how you feel, no one understands you, either." _

_Beryl's face lit with a childish hope, "I knew you would understand! I'm so glad!" _

_She came forward, and it was all Serenity could do not to run. _

_Beryl wrapped her arms around the blond, and held her close, almost crushing the girl against her. "I knew you were the only person who would understand." _

"_I understand now." The princess assured her. _

_Serenity's left hand twitched, just once._

Thwunk.

Selenity shut her eyes, trying to block out the memories.

But she felt like she was betraying her daughter by looking away, so she turned back.

_Beryl and Serenity still stood together, but Beryl's arms had fallen from Serenity. Sailor Venus' sword was buried to the hilt in her back. The evil entity looked down at the sword sticking through her chest, staring unbelieving. Her eyes followed the sword, and she stared at the sword where it entered the chest of the woman she was standing with._

_Selenity stared at the tip of the sword sticking out from her daughters back. The white gown was quickly turning red, yet Serenity showed no pain and stood straight. It had often been a conversational topic, the length of the Venus sword. But now its length served a purpose. It helped her daughter commit suicide, and killed the negative entity._

_Blood dribbled from Beryl's mouth._

_Serenity, ignoring the tearing agony of the sword through her flesh, gripped Beryl's shoulders and pushed her away, putting the last of her failing strength into the shove. Beryl staggered backwards, taking the sword with her._

_Beryl stared in horror at the icy blue eyes glaring at her from the pale face._

_"I understand now." Serenity repeated, "I understand that you need to die."_

_The princess had seen the sword among the rubble. She had no idea how it had come to be there, but it had given her the end she craved._

_Now she could be with Endymion forever._

_Beryl's fingers scrabbled at the blade impaling her chest, but it was useless, the Venus Sword would not budge._

_Serenity stood, watching as the strength faded from her enemy, ignoring the blood quickly soaking her white dress. Her eyes burned with a pale light that frightened Beryl more than her own approaching death._

_The red head collapsed to her knees, the light in her eyes slowly fading._

_Serenity watched, eyes dead as Beryl's body collapsed sideways before exploding into dust, leaving the golden sword in a pile of dust._

_Then she allowed her features to show pain. With a small groan she clasped her hands to her wound._

_Staggering, suddenly dizzy, one last thought entered her head._

**_Endymion. _**

_It was sheer willpower that moved her body towards her fallen love. It may not have been more than three decent steps, but she didn't get halfway before collapsing to her knees. Then she crawled. Once the thought entered her head not even death could stop her reaching the side of her lover._

_She finally reached him, and with a little sigh, laid her head down on his chest and died._

* * *

After that Selenity had used her power to give them all one last chance. 

And it looked like that had been stuffed up too.

"There's no way I can return to my body? Even for a little while? So I can say goodbye?" her daughter's tearful voice bought her back to the present with a thump.

Looking down at her daughter she thought about how different she was now. Serenity had lost the iron hard resolve of her former self, but she was even more fiercely loyal.

She shook her head in response to the girls question, and the tearful face turned back to watch her friends struggle, eyes bleak.

"Well, actually...there is a way."

A new voice startled both the women. Sailor Moon lifted a bleak countenance to the newcomer, only to have the bleakness replaced by shock.

A few feet away a tall, broad shouldered, golden haired man stood. He wore white and gold, and on his head perched a crown with a sun symbol engraved in it. Sailor Moon heard her mother mutter something, but ignored her, because she was staring, nonplussed into the deep blue eyes of a face she had forgotten a thousand years ago.

It was a more handsome, older version of Sameth's face.

With only a gold crown to denote his status as king of the Sun Kingdom, her father, King Apollo smiled at the shock of his daughter and wife.

She looked like her mother, except for that fall of golden hair. Her mother's hair was silver, but Serenity's hair was the same gorgeous golden hue as his own.

"Apollo." Said Selenity stiffly. "I do not see why you are here. This is a problem that the Moon Kingdom must deal with."

Apollo raised a golden eyebrow and eyed his wife with interest. "How so? If Metallia were to be fully unleashed, all the universe would suffer, including the remains of my kingdom. I didn't think you'd let a childish dispute between us destroy our children's future."

Sailor Moon realised that the Sun Kingdom must have been attacked at the end of the Silver Millennium too.

She did not remember her father, and she watched in interest as he and her mother argued about who's right it was to be guardian over this issue. Her mother and he had separated shortly after Sameth's conception, she had found out later. And by the way they were acting she could tell that their parting had not been pleasant.

A noise from below distracted her and a wave of guilt hit her. She had forgotten them for a second!

"King Apollo," she began, using her best commander's voice and gaining the attention of the two squabbling royals, who, she noticed, were standing very close together. Ah, maybe there was more in their relationship still?

She shook the irrelevant thoughts off.

"If you have a way to send me back, pray do so! I cannot leave them to fight this alone!"

The Sun King nodded, and a golden staff, almost a mirror image of Sameth's Moon staff appeared floating in-between them, revolving slowly on the spot.

"All you need to do is take this and wish to go back, child. It has one wish left, and wishes have always been the specialty of my kingdom. After that, use the Sun Power left in it to help defeat them. I will not have it said that the Sun Kingdom hid while the Moon fought alone." This last was directed at his dead wife. She glared at her dead husband.

"The Moon isn't alone," she corrected him archly, "Endymion and his Generals fight, as they always have."

The see-through man snorted, "Fat lot of good they are."

Sailor Moon narrowed her eyes and was about to defend her friends when her mother turned to her and took her by the shoulders.

"Go. Don't waste precious time squabbling. Leave that to us; after all, we have an eternity to do it in. You have very little time, so go, and be safe. Tell Sameth I love him, give my best to Endymion, and Luna and Artemis too, and for goodness sake try to get the generals and the scouts back together!"

Sailor Moon nodded, smiling tearily at her mother.

Selenity's face softened; "I never gave you enough time, did I, my child?" her face was so sad that Sailor Moon had to hug her. Then she stepped back and nodded politely to the father she did not know and clasped the Sun Staff.

"Wait!"

Another new voice, and the Moon family turned to stare at Endymion's mother, Queen Terre came forwards, and handed her another sceptre, made of heavy emerald and bronze, another clone of the Moon Sceptre.

"Endymion will need this if he is to rule, child, and it will give him power. Take it to him, and tell him we love him still."

Her husband, King Terra stepped up behind her and nodded, smiling proudly downwards at his son.

Sailor Moon paused, torn between wanting to talk to these old friends and hurry back. 

"GO!" yelled four voices at once and she winced and stepped backwards.

"Take me back." She told the sun sceptre.

* * *

Oddly enough, it was timid little Mercury that got angry first. 

"You bastards!" she shrieked at the figures on the dais, "this was supposed to be our second chance!"

And she charged forwards, only to come into contact with a black shield that zapped her when she hit it. Instead of throwing her backwards like it was supposed to, she snarled and began to push forwards, her feet scraping the ground.

She was joined almost immediately by Jupiter, Mars and Venus. Jadeite, Zoisite and Nephrite joined them too, followed quickly by Sameth and Luna and Artemis. Malachite stayed to stand guard over his almost catatonic prince.

Their combined might began to weaken the dark shield.

Behind the shield, Beryl was panicking.

"They're coming through!" she cried, horrified.

"Shut up." Metallia growled, impatient with the lackey's fear. She wasn't worried, with Serenity gone this group of miscreants were no problem.

She raised her voice so they could hear her, "Fools!" she called, "You are nothing to the might of the negaverse!"

With a wave of her hand the black wall intensified, and a bolt of power lanced into Nephrite, Zoisite and Jadeite, sending them flying backwards. All three of them slammed roughly into the ground.

An instant after she saw the three hit, a black bolt of power slammed into Mercury, sending her flying as well. For an instant there was pain as the bolt hit, then nothing but rushing air, and then whump!

She opened her eyes in shock. The impact was softer than she had been expecting.

Zoisite winked at her, a quirky grin on his bloody face. He had caught her.

In that instant Mercury didn't care what he'd done in the past. All that mattered was that he had saved her now.

Jupiter was also hit by a blast of dark power that sent her skidding backwards, and she would have toppled over if she hadn't hit something solid.

Nephrite wrapped his arms around her, holding her up until she regained her balance.

"You ok?" he asked quietly, obviously worried, she was very pale.

Jupiter looked up at him, an incredulous look. He winced, "Yeah, I know."

She nodded, and they both went back to the task at hand.

The scouts, generals, Sameth, Luna and Artemis threw everything they had at the dark shield that Metallia was quietly waiting behind,

But nothing seemed to work.

Until there was an inhuman roar from behind them and a flash of black sped over their heads.

Endymion cut the black wall in half with a single swing of his sword. It collapsed around him, and everyone stared at the dishevelled prince. His sword was glittering in his hands, cold steel at its best. But his eyes were colder still, and they glittered with malice, totally focused on Beryl.

He advanced on the shaking woman, his stride purposeful.

Metallia moved to the sidelines, apparently content to watch her underlings troubles.

Beryl, after a moment's hesitation, hardened her features into an impassive mask and drew her own sword from thin air.

The two swords clashed with an almighty crash that seemed to shake the very foundations of the underground chamber.

The reared away from each other, skidding on the dark floor.

Beryl attacked, swinging her sword down from above and aiming for his head. Endymion blocked, and swung at her left side. She only just blocked in time, and the blades met with a ringing sound again.

The backed away from each other. Beryl was scared now, everyone could see it in the pale face. She didn't have nearly enough skill to match Endymion with a sword, and she knew it.

Someone cheered Endymion on from the sidelines; the Tsukino's were still there.

Endymion dove into the attack with a forward thrust that was hard to block, even for a skilled swordsman. Beryl shrieked in pain when the blade sliced her shoulder, and ducked sideways, avoiding his second swiped.

She swapped her sword to a one handed grip, and faced him again.

Endymion attacked with a side swipe that her knocked her sword from her weak grip. It skidded across the floor.

Beryl turned and ran from him.

"Coward!" yelled Malachite and dived in front of her, bringing his sword up to bear.

Beryl wasn't as frightened of Malachite as she was of Endymion, so she sneered at him, "trying to stop me, little general? Stop your self instead!" and she flung a spell at him designed to bend him to her will once again. A dark mist wrapped itself around him.

But instead of sinking into him, it flashed and disappeared.

Malachite glared at her, "Never again, bitch." He raised his sword.

Beryl spun away from him, only to come face to face with Jadeite. He grinned at her, and raised his fiery sword. She flung the same spell at him, and again it bounced off him. He grinned wider, and slashed at her. She ducked away.

Only to be tripped and sent sprawling by Nephrite. "Hi there!" he said, "Remember me?" and swung his sword down, and would have cut off her head except she'd rolled away.

Only to be kicked by Zoisite. "Not so confident now, are we?" he taunted her.

Beryl staggered to her feet and faced Endymion. "So, now what?" she demanded, "Are you going to kill me?"

Endymion looked at her, his eyes dead. Then he sighed and sheathed his sword.

"There is nothing I would like better than to have that honour." He told her sourly, "However, there are some people here who I believe have a greater claim on your life."

He gestured at the four men standing around her.

Her eyes widened when she realised the fate awaiting her.

Endymion turned to look at Metallia. "I have bigger fish to fry." He muttered, and advanced on the creature in human shape.

The girls and Sameth joined him, keeping their backs to Beryl and her fate.

Metallia didn't even blink an eye when Beryl died.

"Are you going to try and kill me?" she asked, sounding only mildly interested.

"Damn straight." Growled Jupiter, clenching her fists until lightning crackled around them.

"Amazing." Said Metallia even though she didn't sound fazed in the least, "You threw everything you had at that wall of Beryl's and you still have power to burn. Amazing."

Mars clamped her hands together. "Did you say burn?" she growled, and her hands burst into flame, a red compliment to Jupiter's green lightning.

Mercury held her hands out at her sides, and twin shards of ice materialised in them.

Venus flicked her wrists and her chain materialised in them, glowing dangerously.

Sameth tightened his grip on the moon sceptre and readied himself.

Metallia laughed. "Your pathetic show of power does not impress me, and if you think you can beat me where your commander in chief failed then you're sorely mistaken."

There was a beat of silence and the Generals joined the group in the semi circle around their foe.

* * *

Unbeknownst to them, the still figure of Serenity behind them was not so still anymore. Her eyelids were fluttering, and slowly the crescent moon on her forehead began to glow softly again. 

She opened her eyes as she heard the scouts power up. Turning her head she saw the scouts standing on either side of her brother, each with one hand touching the sceptre, and crying their battle cries.

"MARS POWER!"

"MERCURY POWER!"

"JUPITER POWER!"

"VENUS POWER!"

"PLUTO POWER!"

"SATURN POWER!"

"URANUS POWER!"

"NEPTUNE POWER!"

"COSMIC MOON POWER!"

The generals joined in with their own brand of earth power, but Endymion, unable to do anything but throw roses even in his prince form, stood and watched.

Serenity blinked, and flexed a hand. The Earth Sceptre disappeared from her right hand and appeared in his right hand.

She watched him start and stare at the bronze and gold staff. He twisted it a little in his hand and it elongated to the elegant spear like staff he remembered. Serenity smiled proudly as he looked up at a shocked Metallia.

"COSMIC EARTH POWER!" he bellowed and swung the sceptre up. Power the colour of emeralds spewed from the tip, joining the light issuing from the scouts generals and Sameth.

Luna had seen from the corner of her eye, a movement in the dim and turned her head. Her mouth dropped open. Standing tall and with a tiny smile on her face, all injuries healed and wearing her white and gold gown, was her princess.

Luna was so shocked she couldn't even cry out, and watched in amazement as the princess raised a golden sceptre above her head and transformed into a sailor scout that Luna had never seen before. She was the same as Sailor Moon as far as uniform went, except for colour. Her skirt and collar glittered gold, while her bows were a opaque material that seemed to shimmer pastel rainbow colours. Her boots were the same gold as her skirt, with blindingly white trim. The white of her bodice was shot through with gold instead of silver and her tiara was gold, with a sun emblazoned in the centre. Her hair jewels were also gold, but in the shape of suns instead of the usual round red jewels.

_Sailor Sun._

She had to be. There was no other explanation for it. But how…?

It didn't matter, Luna realised immediately. What mattered was that her princess was here, and was alive.

And she was just about to show Metallia what it meant to be a Sailor Scout.

Metallia was holding off the barrage of power, but only just. Her shield was strong and she knew she could hold onto it for as long as was necessary, as long as they didn't pull some more power from nowhere. Which they wouldn't, simple because they couldn't. The amount of power they had expended already together today was no mean amount, and their resources were wearing thin.

And they knew it. Through each of our heroes minds echoed the same thought, 'I'm running out of power! My reserves are almost completely drained. What are we going to do?'

Unbeknownst to them, the answer had been watching from the dimness around their circle of light for the last few seconds.

Sailor Sun, or Serenity as we know her better, decided it was time.

She raised the sceptre, "SOLAR FLARE!"

The dark cavern, lit only by the flashes of lightning far overhead, went bright as if it was midday. All movement halted as everyone watched bright golden light fill the area. The Negaverse, not having seen daylight for centuries, watched in amazement as the clouds rolled away, taking the storm and darkness with it. Suddenly the arc of sky above them was blue, and the sun shone brightly from her true place in the sky.

The scouts had not stopped their barrage of power, thought they had seen the light. Unable to turn their heads (for it would cost them the concentration they needed so dearly) they watched out of the corner of their eyes as the world lit.

Except for Pluto. Within the recesses of her mind, where once her visions of the possible futures lay, a tiny pinprick of hope and light woke again. Visions of a new future filled her minds eye, and she collapsed, weeping joyfully at what she saw.

Metallia could only stare in horror at the disgustingly bright day. Just when she was wondering what the point of that was, a burst of something more than mere light blasted through the atmosphere towards her.

What was, in essence, a real solar flare impacted her shield with all the might of a elephant treading on a mouse. It tore through the dark protective layer like it was paper, and slammed into Metallia's chest, sending her flying backwards.

The scouts dropped their attacks, and turned.

Sailor Sun moved up the stair to the dais. "You, of all people should know that even death is not final, Metallia. Though I pray to God yours will be."

She came and stood next to Endymion, who was staring in a mixture of wonder and joy. Sameth, on her other side, found his voice,

"Sailor Sun."

She smiled at her brother, "Our daddy says hello."

She faced Metallia again and took Endymion's free hand with her free hand. He squeezed her fingers in reassurance, whatever happened, they were together and would be until the end.

"The Moon, Earth and Sun will seal you away this day." She vowed calmly, though her insides were still reeling from everything.

She raised her sceptre again, and the princes on either side of her did the same.

"COSMIC MOON POWER!"

"COSMIC EARTH POWER!"

"COSMIC SUN POWER!"

Their audience had to shield their eyes as a bright light enveloped the three monarchs. Then a burst of heat so intense it burnt the air radiated from the cocoon of light, sending scouts and generals stumbling backwards in haste. Mercury slipped, only to be caught mid air by Zoisite, and Venus, who hadn't shut her eyes in time, stumbled blindly until Malachite scooped her up and carried her away from the radiating light. Jupiter staggered away with Nephrite, and somehow her fingers tangled with his. Mars tripped on ribble, but didnt hit the floor, Jadeite had caught her and carried her out of the radius of heat.

Artemis darted forwards and grabbed Luna when she would have dashed into the heat after the three, and dragged her struggling backwards.

Pluto pulled little Saturn away, and Uranus fairly carried Neptune down from the dais.

It took a long time for the light to fade. When it did, three figures stood where they had stood the entire time. But Sailor Sun was now dressed a gold and white princess dress instead of her sailor fuku.

On the ground in front of them where Metallia had been, was a seal. Large, and round, it seemed to be an embossed picture. It had a large blue circle in the centre to represent earth. From underneath half the circle sprouted gold flames, the sun. From underneath the other half a silver crescent followed the lines of the earth. In the centre, atop the blue dome of earth, nine symbols shone slightly. The symbols for Mars, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Pluto, Neptune, Uranus and Saturn were arranged in a neat circle. In the very centre sat for gems, Malachite, Nephrite, Zoisite and Jadeite.

Serenity was leaning heavily on Endymion, who didn't look too well himself. Sameth was using his Moon Staff as a prop.

Luna was the first to move, followed closely by Artemis. The two cat-humans sped up the cavern, onto the dais and hugged Serenity.

"You're alive!" cried Luna, "how is this possible? We all saw you die!"

The others gathered around, all asking questions, all of them clamouring for attention, until Pluto coughed loudly.

"I think questions can be left for later, ladies and gentlemen." She said calmly, "we need to get out of here before we can think of anything else, and we also need to rest. I don't know about the rest of you, but I may as well be dead, I feel so tired. Lets go home and rest before question-and-answer time."

* * *

AN; one, maybe two more chapters. I hope that was worth the wait, people, and I cant apologise enough. Don't hate me, kay? 


	17. Chapter 17

Raye sat on the swing chair on the veranda out the front of Luna and Artemis' large house and stared unseeing into the muted d

Raye sat on the swing chair on the veranda out the front of Luna and Artemis' large house and stared unseeing into the muted darkness around her. Her thoughts were jumbled, and she found she couldn't spend more than a minute thinking about any single topic that entered her head.

Her friends, as far as she knew, were all asleep upstairs. She had always been an early riser, and today was no exception. She had lain in bed for a little while, but even though her body was still exhausted her mind refused to rest. She had grabbed her blanket and gone down stairs to watch the dawn.

Dawn was still a few minutes away, but she was content to wait. The area was still silent; the birds had not even awoken yet. She pushed the ground a little with her foot and let the swing move freely.

"I would have thought it was early, even for you, shrine maiden."

Raye started and almost fell of the swing.

Serena smiled apologetically, and came and sat next to her. Dressed in bright pink flannel pajamas with moons and rabbits all over them her friend looked nothing like the graceful princess that Raye remembered from the Silver Millennium. She looked like the klutz Raye had known before she had started all this.

Except… Serena had never been a klutz. It had been an act, put on from an early age… put on for so long it became habit.

She watched the blond draw her knees up to her chest and stare out into the dark.

"I guess it is. I just woke up and couldn't sleep."

Serena snorted. "Me either. It's ridiculous…"

She sounded odd and Raye glanced across at her again. Serena was frowning.

"I've waited for this…" Serena made an expansive gesture, "For you guys to remember for so long… since I was ten… it seems surreal now that you have finally remembered. And yet I can't relax."

"No." said Raye, softly agreeing. "Neither can I. I feel like I'm just about to go for a job interview or something. I have butterflies in stomach."

Serena nodded, "I think the only one of us that isn't at all nervous is Pluto, because she's been grinning like a clown."

Raye snorted. "Wish I knew what she does." She grumbled.

"I don't." said Serena fervently. "Seeing the future is a burden even in small snatches."

Raye shot her a sharp look. Serenity had, sometimes, on the moon, known things were going to happen before they did.

"You true dream still?"

The blond nodded.

Raye thought for a while. Then she asked a question that opened a can of worms. "You said you're nervous. Why? You and Endymion have no problems. I would have thought your greatest worry was how long to wait before getting married. You don't have… problems like Mina, Amy, Lita and I do."

Serena pulled a face. "I have plenty to worry about. Rebuilding a kingdom isn't that easy, you know, even if it's Endymion doing most of the work. But my worries will disappear with time. Yours…" she paused and looked at Raye, and the Martian suddenly wished that she hadn't asked the question. She had tried to get the Lunarian to open up a little, but instead the princess was about to ask her about Jadeite.

_Damn._

"Yours will take work, I think." Said Serena carefully.

Raye snorted. "I don't know what you mean. There's nothing worrying me."

_Liar._ She berated herself mentally, but continued anyway, lifting her chin. "If you're thinking of a certain blond general I can assure you that I have no feelings towards him anymore. None whatsoever."

"None at all?" asked Serena, sounding mildly surprised.

"No. I have not forgiven him for his betrayal, true enough, and nor will I _ever_ forgive him!" said Raye harshly. Serena was silent.

The silence goaded Raye into speech. "I am going to ignore him completely, and forget him as soon as I am able."

"Methinks thou doth protest too much." Said Serena softly. And Raye, who had just opened her mouth, about to say something more about how she would live without him and find someone else, shut her mouth with a snap.

"Raye, tell me, did Beryl show you anything of what happened after your death?

Raye frowned at her, "No… why?"

Serena shrugged, "Just wondering. You really don't love Jed anymore?"

"No." said Raye, though her throat constricted around the word.

"He still loves you. In fact, I'm fairly sure he loves you more than ever he did in the Millennium. If that's possible."

Raye snapped her head around to glare at the blond. "I don't think it's any of your business." She growled.

Serena's face closed, and she stood. "I guess not…" she stood and the swing swung wildly for a second before Raye steadied it by planting her feet on the ground.

Serena looked out at the brightening sky. Then she turned back to Raye, eyes serious. "But I think you should know, Sailor Mars, about what happened to the Earth Generals after you died."

"What do you mean?" Raye demanded.

Serena shrugged with one shoulder. "I didn't want to tell you." She looked at Raye pityingly, "but you should know that when he killed you the spell that Beryl had placed on him was dissolved."

She leaned over and placed her hands on Raye's shoulders. "What would have you done back then, Raye, if you had gone to sleep and when you woke you were covered in your lovers blood, in Jed's blood, and were holding the weapon that killed him? _What would you have done in that situation?"_

The answer was immediate, and it came unbidden from deep inside her. _I would have killed myself._

The answer echoed around in her head. Her violet eyes widened as she saw in her minds eye the look that must have been on Jadeites face when he realized what he had done.

"He…." She whispered, eyes vacant. Serena watched quietly.

"He… killed himself?"

Serena nodded, eyes bright with tears at the look on Raye's face.

Raye sat there for a few minutes. A couple of times she opened her mouth to say something. But no sound ever came out. Finally, just as the birds began to sing cheerily in the morning air, she lifted haunted eyes to Serena. Serena saw the tears threatening to overwhelm her dear friend and reached out a hand.

Raye shook her off, but she did it gently. "I'd like to be alone, please, princess." She said in a hushed voice.

Serena squeezed her shoulder before leaving the girl to her thoughts. _My dear, independent Raye,_ she thought sadly, _I wish you would learn that grief of this kind is not meant to be born alone._

She went upstairs where, unable to think of anything else to do, she dressed and sat at the window staring out into the sky but not really seeing it. Even when the sky turned golden and yellow with dawn she didn't take any notice.

She started when a hand was laid on her shoulder.

"Something's worrying you." Said Darien softly.

Serena sighed and put a hand up to his on her shoulder, smiling gratefully at him. Even before they had fallen in love he had been extremely sensitive to her moods.

"Raye's just a bit upset at the moment."

He raised his eyebrows, "Aren't all the girls a bit upset at the moment, the generals too, for that matter?"

She smiled weakly and shuffled over in the window seat to make room for him. He sat down and pulled her against him. She snuggled close and debated what to say.

Endymion didn't press her. He still didn't know what happened at the end of the Millenium. He knew vague details, such as the generals had died shortly after the scouts, and that Serenity had seen their bodies as she ran from the palace in time to meet him on his approach. According to Beryl, it had been Serenity that had ended the dark queens life, but he wasn't sure if he could trust anything Beryl said. He didn't know how Serenity had died, or what had happened to bring her back to them mere hours ago. And he had the feeling that the story would be a difficult one for her to tell, so he remained patient.

"You know that the Generals killed the scouts, in the end?"

He nodded, breathing in the smell of her hair.

"When the girls died the generals were released from their spells. They were left to face what they had done."

His arms tightened around her. She knew he feared what that meant.

"They all chose to follow their loves into death." She said softly.

"Poor bastards… to choose suicide…" he didn't notice the princess wince and drew a ragged breath. "I feared something of the sort… and they girls… do they know?"

"Raye does, now. I told her a few minutes ago."

"And how did she take it?"

"She told me to go away."

"And that means...?"

"That she hasn't changed. She's still far too independent for her own good. She's probably crying her eyes out right now. But she wont cry in front of anyone, she never would. So if I go and see how she is she'll stop crying and the tears will fester inside her and she wont feel better like she would after a good cry."

He sighed, and tightened his grip on the willowy figure next to him.

Raye held the tears in until the sky had lightened to a golden yellow, an odd colour for dawn. But the colour was so emotive for Raye that she couldn't hold the tears in anymore.

The sky was the colour of Jadeite's hair.

So she leaned forwards, clutching her stomach and burying her face in her knees. Each sob wrenched her gut painfully but she found she couldn't stop.

Her pain of his betrayal to her… it was nothing compared to what he must be feeling. How he must hate himself now!

The thought of Jadeite, always so happy and carefree, the real clown of the group, loathing himself made her insides squirm.

And yet, she didn't love him anymore. She was sure of it. How could one love after such a betrayal? How could she be so pitiful as to crawl back to him and try to begin again? She was, first and foremost, Sailor Mars, and her loyalty was to the Moon, no one else!

"Raye?"

_His_ voice, tentative, and quiet. He wasn't on the veranda, but on the ground, somewhere to her right

Her tears dried up instantly. He would never see her cry in front of him again! She had once, a long time ago, but not again!

"Go away." She said hoarsely into her knees.

"Raye, please… can we at least talk? I want to at least be friends, if-"

"Is it true?" she interrupted him, lifting a tear streaked face and piercing him with those damn violet eyes.

"Is what true?" he asked, flabbergasted.

"Did you really kill yourself after you killed me?"

His face, which had been open and honest, even hopeful, closed. It was like watching a door slam in your face, Raye mused.

"Who said that?" he asked, his voice steely.

"No one!" said Raye shrilly, "I figured it out for myself!"

He chuckled bitterly. Raye blinked, staring at him dumbly.

"You were never a good liar." He said, and sighed. "It was the princess, wasn't it? Meddling little rabbit."

"Would you have told me?" Raye challenged.

He shook his head.

For some reason, Raye was expecting him to say yes to that, and stared at him. "Why not?" she asked finally.

"I didn't want it to seem like I wanted a sympathy vote." He said with a sigh. "I see why you were upset now."

He fixed her with an assessing stare and then said softly, "The last thing I remembered when I was released from Beryl's spell is crashing in our shuttle. Then darkness, and suddenly I was standing over your body with my bloody sword in my hand. It wasn't me, Raye, It wasn't, but I can't claim that as a reason to forgive me either. If I had been stronger…"

He trailed off and rubbed his face. "If if if! It makes no difference. I killed you. I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry. I'd kill myself again if it would make any difference."

"Don't talk like that!"

He blinked at her, nonplussed.

"I've had enough of death. No more." She said weakly, wondering why even the notion of him dying again hurt her so much. "There's been too much blood already."

"You're right." he said sheepishly.

"Speaking of dying, have you got any idea about what happened to Sere?"

Later, when she looked back on the following conversation she wasn't sure exactly what it was that had made them discuss it until the sun was high in the sky. Perhaps they were relieved to talk about a neutral subject, the princess. Perhaps anything was better than being alone.

Raye didn't want to think about the other option.

But perhaps they enjoyed talking about nothing together just as much as they had used to.

* * *

Mina wasn't a stupid blond. Contrary to popular perception. She knew where her duty lay. Her life, her all, was to be devoted to the princess. And she was fine with that. She didn't _want_ any eternal company. She didn't need any eternal company. She never had. Malachite had had the damndest time even convincing her to look at him on the Moon in the Silver Millennium. But now, this time around, her princess would need all her attention if she was to rebuild the Moon Kingdom. Mina would give her all. She was after all the leader of the Sailor Scouts, the one and only Sailor Venus.

And that was enough.

So she ignored the ache in her heart when she rose that morning and went immediately to find Serenity to ask what needed to be done.

She was glad Serenity was alone. It would be nice to chat again like they used to.

As she talked, Mina looked at the princess, looking for any signs of change. She could see many, but none that mattered. Her friend was weary of earth, that much she could see, and longed for the Moon. She seemed older and quieter than she had been on the moon, but Mina was sure they all felt the affects of their last lives keenly.

Serenity was worried about something though. She kept opening her mouth to say something and then changing her mind.

Mina let it go. Sere would spit it out when she wanted to.

But the day wore on, and Mina decided she should check on the other girls. She took her leave. But as she left Serenity said something odd to her.

"Even Venus should be happy."

Mina dismissed the statement. Serenity was feeling guilty was all. She had after all put them through a lot, even though it was done unwittingly.

She wandered downstairs, and heard voices. Peeking out onto the veranda, she saw Raye and Jadeite talking. They seemed happy, both were smiling, both sitting in a relaxed fashion. Mina swallowed bile. How dare Mars fraternize with the enemy! Didn't she understand what they had done? Jadeite and the others were responsible for the fall of the Millennium!

"Something wrong, Mina?"

She turned. Prince Endymion had come downstairs behind her and was watching her quizzically.

"No." she said, not looking at him. "Nothing. What could be wrong?"

He frowned at her for a second, and then said, "Malachite and Nephrite are training outside. I was about to join them. Do you want to join us?"

"I'd rather not."

His frown deepened. "Venus, I know how you must feel, but the generals aren't going anywhere because I'm not going anywhere. You're going to have to at least put up with their presence."

"They betrayed you!" Mina cried, "They betrayed all of us! How can you even think it's alright to have them around? What if they were turned against us again?"

"They weren't themselves, and personally, I think they made up for it by standing by Serena like they have these last few months, as well as how they reacted at the very end."

Mina blinked. "What do you mean?"

He sighed. "Nothing. Forget I said anything."

He turned and was gone. Mina frowned, and then dismissed what he said. She wandered into the lounge room where Amy was reading a book.

The blunette looked up and smiled. "Good morning Mina."

Mina smiled, "Morning hun. How's things?"

Amy looked serious. "Alright I guess. I'm a bit flabbergasted by the whole thing still. I mean, in the last four weeks we've discovered that we're Sailor Scouts, remembered a past life and kingdom, remembered past loves, who are incidentally alive now, found out that the girl we all thought was a ditz has been acting for years and is Sailor Moon and probably the most powerful being in the universe. We've fought the greatest evil and won, watched Serenity die and come back and turn into Sailor Sun -still haven't found out about that actually- and we've been bought back to the real world. I'm wondering, what now?"

"Throw the Outer Senshi and the little Moon Prince into that list and you've got it. You're right though, what now?"

"Well I for one intend to find out as much as I can about Sailor Sun. I haven't talked to Sere yet and I guess I should."

Mina sat down and picked up one of Luna's TV magazines. "Well I think I'll read for a bit."

Amy stood and wandered outside to look for the princess.

* * *

Serenity was lying in the shade under on of the larger trees in Luna's garden, staring up at the mottled light streaking through the branches.

"Princess?"

Serenity let out a growl and sat up to glare at Amy. "The next person to call me princess and not Serenity or Serena will have their head cut off. I swear, hearing 'princess this' 'princess that' does my head in!"

Amy sighed and dropped down in front of her. "But that's what you are."

Serenity laughed, a cynical, dry laugh. "Please, Amy. I'm just the dead princess of a dead world - a world so barren no one could live there. Princess just doesn't fit anymore. Besides, it's Sam who's the monarch."

Amy stared at her compassionately, "You know very well that you were always the better choice to take the mantle of leadership. I wish so very much that we had seen it then."

"It no longer matters. The Moon Kingdom is gone, Amy, and it's not coming back. Besides, the only leadership I want anymore is the seat I would gain as Endymion's wife; Queen of Earth."

Amy shrugged. "We'll see. Sometimes things work out differently than you expect. Speaking of, Sailor Sun?"

Now it was Serenity's turn to shrug. "I met my parents, Endymions' too, wherever it was that I went when I died. Apollo gave me the sun scepter. It's useless now, nothing more than a relic of a bygone civilization."

"May I see it?"

Serenity smiled indulgently at the eager face, "Sure." With a flick of her wrist the Sun Scepter appeared between them, floating in mid air.

Amy reached out and took it, and sure enough, an instant later, had her computer out and was scanning the scepter busily.

Serenity started as Endymion flopped down onto the grass next to her. He greeted Amy warmly, received a murmur in return and turned to Sere, eyebrow raised.

"Don't mind Amy." She said, leaning against him, "She's got a new toy to play with."

"This I can see." He slipped an arm around her and then pulled out the Earth Scepter. Amy stopped what she was doing and both Serenity and Endymion watched in amusement as she stared hungrily at the rod, eyes already taking in measurements and making calculating guesses.

Endymion handed it to her. With a look of gleeful anticipation she took it, and immediately began comparing the two.

Serenity and Endymion shared a look. Some things would truly never change. And that was as it should be.

Amy began muttering to herself, much to the pair's amusement. "Of course, of course, dual layers of metal, no activation mechanism, must be a spell… eh? Triple layered cosmic automated materia? Impossible!"

"Triple layered?" demanded a new voice, and Zoisite crouched next to the blunette. "Show me!"

Again Serenity and Endymion hid their amusement as they watched Amy and Zoisite pore over the two scepters. Serenity snuggled close to Endy and closed her eyes, only to open them again a second later when Amy burst into tears.

The blunette flung herself at a stupefied Zoi, crying, "I missed you so much!"

Zoisite toppled over backwards, expression flabbergasted, and he and Amy ended up on the grass together. Amy buried her face in his chest, sobbing. Zoisite hesitated, and then wrapped his arms around her too, and buried his face in her hair.

"I missed you too." He whispered.

Amy sniffled, "I don't care what happened, I don't! Just don't ever leave me alone again! She shook her head, flinging tears, "I love you."

Serenity and Endymion watched the look of awe pass over the general's face, saw him bend his head and whisper, "I love you too, my little genius."

Serenity shook her head. Endymion glanced at her, "Could it really be that easy?" she asked softly in wonder.

Endymion pulled her close. "Of course. When love is involved things are either really easy or really difficult."

Serenity pondered the wisdom of that.

"Serenity, I have a question for you." Said Amy, from where she was now sitting against Zoisite's side.

"Then I probably have an answer for you."

"What happened?"

At Serenity's blank look, Amy elaborated, "What happened when you died?"

Endymion tensed next to her, but Serenity pursed her lips. "I didn't actually die, though to all intensive purposes I was dead."

"Meaning…?"

"Metallia flung a spell at me designed to separate my body from my soul. It worked. My body stayed where it was… my soul went elsewhere."

"Where?"

"Well, I dunno. It wasn't exactly heaven. But like I said, my mother was there, and my father. And Endymion's parents."

Endymion shifted, "My parents?"

She looked up at him, "Yes, they send their love."

He looked a bit flattened by that, so she squeezed his hand and turned back to Zoi and Amy.

"My mother and father argued a bit, and then he gave me the Sun Scepter, telling me it would take me back. Then Terre and Terra arrived and gave me the Earth Scepter. They said it would give you power and allow you to rule."

"Rule…" Endymion muttered, only just beginning to focus on the mammoth task ahead of him. To rebuild the Earth Kingdom… to convince the people of earth that they had once united under one king, and would again…

Serenity continued, "So I used the Sun Scepter to take me back and transformed into Sailor Sun."

"Of course, you were a princess of the sun too, however unofficially. Which means that you could transform into either Sailor Sun or Sailor Moon."

Serenity nodded.

"Hi guys. What are we talking about?" Lita, dressed in sweat pants and a singlet top ducked under a branch and joined them. She cast a surprised glance at Zoi and Amy, but didn't comment.

"Serenity dying."

"Oh." Lita plopped down. "Which time? And what about it?"

Amy reflected on how strange that question would seem to someone who didn't know their story before she answered.

"The latest. She met Queen Serenity, King Apollo, Queen Terre and King Terra on the other side."

"Really? Awesome!"

Serenity changed the subject. "What have you been doing Lita? Training?"

Lita nodded and clenched a fist, "I've gotta get back to how I was! It's gonna take some work, but I'll get there."

Serenity sighed, "Yes, I'm atrociously unfit compared to what I was too."

"You should get Nephrite to train with you again!" Amy said eagerly to Lita, "That worked really well in the Silver Millennium!"

Lita raised an eyebrow and shrugged, "Sometimes things that worked once don't work again."

"And sometimes they do." Said Endymion, biting back a grin at Amy's unsubtle attempt to get Lita and Nephrite together.

Lita frowned at him. "I don't need a training partner. I can be strong on my own."

"But who wants to be strong on their own, Lita? Being strong with friends is so much better."

* * *

Later Endymion watched as his pretty princess and her friends sat and chatted happily together in the twilight. He and the generals were seated off a little ways from the girls, separated but present. Luna and Artemis sat between the two main groups with the outer senshi. Luna and Trista seemed to have reached a strange sort of agreement; a I-won't-talk-or-look-at-you-so-please-don't-talk-or-look-at-me agreement. Ellen and Kenji Tsukino sat next to Sam in the group of girls, listening in wonder to stories of the silver millennium. On the whole they had taken the past lives of Serena and Sam very well. They seemed slightly shell-shocked still, to Endymion. But they were showing an amount of self control that made Endymion smile.

Endymion, having asked that no one call him Darien when in private, could still sense that strange mood that had woken him this morning in his soul mate. He watched her now, across the room, smiled slightly as she laughed at something and then frowned as the laugh died quickly from her face.

A laugh had used to light up her whole face for hours, but at the moment after the mirth died a pensive look took its place, only to be replaced as someone distracted her or said something else funny. Something was preying on her mind, something more than the obvious aftermath of the battle.

His mind went back to just after he had first met her, in the Silver Millennium, and thought of the thunderous frown on her face one day. She had had an argument with someone. He had never found out who. But he remembered too how she had smiled easily at him and how it had transformed her face, and she had stayed smiling for hours.

Not long after that he had met Beryl. Even then she had given him the creeps, but except for that one fight, he had accepted her because Serenity accepted her. He wondered if, perhaps, he could've changed things if he had voiced his suspicions about her earlier. But he shook those thoughts off as another occurred to him. Beryl had said to them before Sameth and the Outer Senshi arrived that Serenity had been the one to kill her. He had dismissed it as a dramatic lie, but maybe…?

Did that mean that Serenity had been the last of them all to die? Surely so. She had definitely died after him. He wondered when Sameth had died, and the Queen. Had they died after her?

Later, Endymion made sure to get the younger prince on his own.

"Sameth," he said quietly, and the young fair haired prince looked up, "I have a question for you. When, exactly, did you die, on the moon?"

Sameth frowned, "Just after my mother, actually. But when in relation to the other deaths I don't know."

Endymion frowned, "I'm trying to figure out exactly who was the last to die. I'm worried it might be Serenity."

Sameth shrugged, "If you're worried about what Beryl said, why don't you ask her?"

Endymion gave him a look. Sam chuckled, and he seemed so much older than the boy he was, "I know we died before Venus, because she arrived as I died." He said it with no emotion whatsoever, and Endymion shuddered. The kid needed serious counseling, but what counselor would believe him?

He thanked the boy and went to look for Serenity.

* * *

Lita sat perched on the balcony railing that ran around the veranda of the large house, sipping an iced tea. The night was starry, and still warm after the heat of the day. Lita was still wearing her track pants, but had added a hooded jacket to her top half in deference to the slight breeze. After the mugginess of the day and her intensive training she was exhausted, but her mind was still so active that her aches and pains were ignored.

"Nice night."

Nephrite stood a little way off, hands in his pockets. As she looked at him he withdrew a cigarette and lit it. She stared in amazement.

"You smoke?" she yelped.

He fixed her with a strange look, took a drag and said, "Yeah."

"Whatever happened to your code? You barely used to drink alcohol because you didn't want to poison your body, and smoking's so much worse!" her voice had risen without her meaning it to, but she didn't care.

He took another drag and shrugged.

She swung her legs back over the veranda to face him, "You used to say that there was no excuse for doing drugs because of what they do to your body, and nicotine is a drug, in case you didn't know!"

He met her glare with a cool stare, "What do you care?"

Lita stared at him, open mouthed, then leapt from the veranda and crossed to him in three angry strides and ignoring his flabbergasted expression, ripped the cigarette from his mouth.

"These," she ground out, throwing the cigarette away, "_will kill you._ Do you understand? _They will kill you!"_ she hadn't realized it, but there were tears in her eyes.

Without her knowing it her fist came up, aimed for his face. He caught it easily in his left hand, and grabbed her other wrist as her other hand rose to slap him in his right.

Then he kissed her, passionately, full on the mouth. He let go of her hands and wrapped both arms around her tightly, holding her still.

When they broke apart she wore a hazy expression.

"Wha… what was that for?" she managed.

He just grinned his old boyish grin at her, "Because I'm happy you still care." He said and released her.

Then he turned and walked away.

Lita put one shaky hand up to her mouth, touched her lips and slowly began to smile.

"Of course I care!" She yelled after him, "and if you haven't quick smoking by this time tomorrow then I wont be kissing you again!"

* * *

AN: Once again I am sorry for the lack of updating. Im in my last year of uni and while I dont stop writing or thinking up these stories Im finding it harder and harder to update. Anyway I'll finish this story and then give it a rest for a while. Hope you enjoy! basically this was just a filler chapter, tying up lose ends. Next chapter: remember that dream that Serena had, way back? About her and Endymion? well, find out what happens and why they fight!

Neon

* * *


	18. Chapter 18

**AN: So I was thinking that I really, really, really don't like this chapter. I would like everyone's opinion please! I don't like the way this turned out at all and I think the characters are out of character (damnit).**

* * *

Mina was enraged. Had they no sense? First Raye and the blond one, then Amy and the other blond one, and now even stalwart Lita had succumbed. _How dare they?_

She stormed down the hall and into the study, throwing open the doors with a clash.

"I want to talk to you!" she stormed at Serenity, who was seated behind the great desk.

Sameth, who had been talking to his sister, halted in mid-sentence. Then he made as if to leave, but Serenity said quietly, "No, Sam, stay."

He sat, looking uncomfortable.

Mina strode over to the desk and planted both hands on it, leaning over the blond girl.

"Now not only have Raye and Jadeite and Amy and Zoisite gotten together again, but so have Lita and Nephrite! This is intolerable!"

But Serenity's face lit up, "Really? Oh, I'm so happ-"

She broke off at the look on Mina's face. "Happy?" shrieked the Venarian, "HAPPY? They're fraternizing with the enemy!"

"Enemy? Now, Mina, I don't think-"

Again Serenity was cut off by the enraged scout, "Those men are responsible for the destruction of everything you held dear, everything I held dear! How can you just sit back and let them make the same mistake again?"

"Mina," said Serenity quietly, "you're being too harsh."

"Harsh?" screeched the scout, "how's this for harsh,_ princess? _They killed the four people who were supposed to protect your family! And now they're in a _perfect_ position to do it _again_!"

"Venus!" gasped Amy from the door. Zoisite stood behind her, stiffened into a pale shadow. Beside Amy stood Raye, Lita, Nephrite (who was pale too), Jadeite (who was looking bewildered), Luna and Artemis.

Serenity stood and came round the desk, "Are you angry because the girls have given in or because it all happened in the first place?"

"Neither! I'm angry at you!"

There was silence, and Endymion and the Outer Sailor Scouts joined the group at the door. Sameth shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

"Truly." Said Serenity, using that same level voice that Endymion recognized as being her warning tone. The others at the door shivered at the cold expression on her face.

"Do explain."

"Beryl was _your_ friend! _Your_ ally! _You_ should have known when she went amiss. You should have done something about it then! But you were blind to her faults, as you are blind to no others! But that's not what's making me mad. Oh no, what's making me mad is the fact that now you have the power to make it possible you are refusing to rebuild our home! It's your duty! And the sooner you and you" here she pointed at Sam who flinched, "return us to our kingdom the sooner I can remove them," here she pointed at the girls "from their influence!"

She obviously meant the generals. The crowd at the door shifted slightly, restless, but the princess spoke first.

"I see." Said Serenity, and her voice had dropped even further. "I have failed in my duty to rebuild the Moon Kingdom. But are you sure you're not misplacing some of that anger, Mina? True, I failed in my duty to rebuild. Just as you have failed in your duty, perhaps, to protect?"

_Crack._

The sound echoed through out the room, Serenity's head snapped sideways, and the audience let out a startled gasp. Endymion made a sharp movement but was held back by Trista.

Mina looked more surprised than horrified at what she had done, and stared at her open hand in shock, and then at the red handprint on Serenity's cheek.

"You want me to fix it, Sailor Venus? Get rid of your anger?" Serenity asked, still facing away. Mina couldn't see her eyes, they were hidden by her hair, but the tone of voice frightened the scout.

"I could, you know. I planned it." She turned back to the leader of the Sailor Senshi, ignoring the stinging in her cheek and gazing at the Sailor Scout with level eyes. Ice blue eyes. Mina took a step backwards.

"Pluto and I discussed it. We both felt that we could make amends for our past mistakes by returning you to your innocent selves, removing your memories, giving you back the normal lives you led before all this began again. If you wish, I could still do that."

Someone at the door made a horrified noise. Mina took another step back, horrified, and gasped out, "I don't want to forget! I just want to return to the Moon Kingdom, to go back to-"

"Haven't you been listening?" Demanded Sameth, standing up. "We have made a decision. The Moon Kingdom is gone. Even if things had not ended they way they did there would be no way for us to reclaim that time! To even think of it is to insult its memory! There is no going back!"

Serenity was a little gentler; "Mina, Sameth and I are nothing but remains of a civilization that has long since passed. We have no wish to try and rebuild."

"But your mother saved us so we could!" Mina said stubbornly.

"No she didn't, Mina." Said Sameth, now standing next to his sister.

"Yes she did! She sent us forwards in time so we could rebuild, and start again! It's our duty! The reason we're alive again! A duty everyone seems to be forgetting about!" Mina cried.

"Mina!" Serenity had finally lost her temper and her voice thundered through the room.

Mina flinched, and those at the door retreated a little way.

"The Queen sent us forward in time so that _we could start again_, yes,_ but not so that we could relive the past!_ The past is gone! Past! That's why it's called _the past!_ The Moon Kingdom is dead, and no matter how much we wish for it _it won't come back._ The past is the past, leave it there. Focus on the present! we may never fully reclaim the peace of the Siler Millenium, but we can try by rebuilding the Earth Kingdom! It, at least, still has citizens!"

"But-"

"Mina, I know how much you loved my mother, but if you continue to long for the Moon Kingdom you are ignoring my mothers last wish. She wished for you all to have lives free of the struggles of right and wrong, good and evil. Why the hell do you think she died to make it so? She wanted everyone to live happily, Moon kingdom or not. It's like a slap in the face for her if you do not try to do that, Mina. You're the leader of the scouts; you must obey her last wish. Besides, is it really that hard to carry out?"

Mina looked miserable.

"Are you going to stay a scout Mina?" asked Sameth, "I understand if it is to painful for you, my friend. The offer of altering your memory still stands."

Amy made a little frightened noise, and Raye opened her mouth to say something but was shushed by Lita.

Mina looked between the two Lunarians. Serenity smiled gently, "We'd miss you, but it is your decision."

Endymion chanced a glance at Malachite. He was standing a little away from the door, in the hall where he could hear everything but not be seen. He was leaning on the wall, not looking at anything. It was plain he was going to leave it all up to Mina.

"Well I have something to say!" Endymion said loudly, startling everyone, "I want the Sailor Scouts to be as strong as they possibly can, because they need to protect my future wife. There are still youmas left over from Beryl's ruin, you know. I think that the scouts would suffer greatly without their leader, Venus."

Mina looked at him, hesitating. Serenity met his gaze and said calmly "it is still her decision, Endymion."

Mina frowned. What did she truly want? To start again, an ordinary human? Or to continue to whatever destiny lay in wait?

"If you wish to stay, this is here for you." Said Sam, and the Venus Sword appeared in his hands, sheathed, but gleaming intensely as it felt its master nearby. Serenity suppressed a shudder no noticed at seeing the weapon.

Mina stared at the sword for a second. After a second she reached out and took the great blade.

"I am Sailor Venus. Forever shall I remain so." She intoned calmly.

Serenity smiled tightly, "I am glad, Mina. Life's not right without Venus around."

"This doesn't mean I have forgiven you!" Mina snapped, "Or the Generals!"

Serenity recoiled slightly, and Mina continued, "I simply could not live with myself if-"

She broke off, staring at the blade she had just drawn from the sheath. Where it had once been gleaming silver it was now splattered with a dull brownish red; the colour of dried blood.

"What the?" she muttered, turning the blade to the light, "What is this?"

Amy came forward, "it looks like blood!"

No one noticed Serenity shut her eyes for a second.

"Do a scan, Amy, find out what it is." Suggested Lita, coming forward to have a look.

Amy pulled out her little computer and tapped a few keys. "It's definitely blood. Does anyone know how it might have got there?"

No one answered, and everyone exchanged blank looks. Amy dipped her head again as he computer beeped.

"There's two lots of blood there. One… is…"

She stopped, and then looked up and Mina, "It's Lunarian blood!"

Mina let out a shriek and dropped the blade. " I cannot carry a blade that has been stained with the blood of your family! I will not carry it!" she cried at both Serenity and Sameth. Sameth looked bewildered, but Serenity bent to pick up the sword.

"This sword was used to kill Beryl, Mina. I think that makes up for whatever else it was used for, somehow." She said calmly, handing it back to a horrified Mina.

Trista moved into the room, and somehow every eye turned to her. She looked down at the sword sadly. And then looked at Serenity, meeting her gaze levelly

"Don't you d-" began the blue-eyed princess loudly, but Trista had already spoken.

"They need to know. Its only fair."

She turned to the gathering at large, looked at their tense expressions and elaborated;

"The Venus Sword did kill Beryl, but it also stabbed Princess Serenity through the heart, ending her life as well at the end of the Millennium. It was her blood that stained it. That sword is like the crystal, old and magical enough to have a memory. It was sworn with the first Sailor Venus, the first ever Sailor Scout to join the Moon Kingdom, it too took the vow of protection, and it failed in its duty. That's why it is stained, it remembers."

Serenity gave Trista a nasty look. _Thanks, buddy. _Pluto met her eyes calmly. There was a beat of silence as everyone digested that.

Then-

Mina dropped the sword again with a shriek.

"_It what?" _Demanded Endymion, looking between the two.

"Why didn't you tell us?" demanded Raye, coming forwards.

Serenity sighed, and stuck her hands on her hips. "Because I knew how you would react."

"What the hell happened?" demanded Nephrite.

She just glared at him.

"Serenity," said Endymion, pleading. Just that, but the look on his face when she looked at him and the pain in his eyes swayed her.

Serenity bent and picked up the sword. "Beryl killed Endymion in front of me, and started telling me how it was all for my own good, how I should love her for it. I didn't know what else to do, so I bluffed and said I understood. She held me… and I called the sword from where it had fallen when Mina dropped it. It went straight through the both of us."

She was silent a long time,

"I didn't particularly want to die. But I had seen all of you as I ran from the palace, all you girls had died fighting, and the generals…"

Here she looked up at the three silent men. Meeting their eyes one by one she said "they had killed themselves in penance, and where laying beside each pf you."

A ripple of horrified noises ran through the room, even Luna and Artemis had not known that fact.

"And I saw my mother… our mother…" she nodded at Sam, "and you."

The boy swallowed visibly, but didn't make a sound. Serenity went to Endymion and buried her face in his shirtfront. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly, his expression fiercely loving.

"And I thought that perhaps I could bear it all, as long as you were alive."

He tightened his grip until her was in danger of hurting her. The others watched silently.

After a few seconds she leaned back and looked up at him, smiling sadly through crystalline tears. "But you died too. And I didn't want to live alone."

"So when you had the chance to kill both Beryl and yourself, you took it." said Amy softly, her voice wobbly and her eyes full of compassion. Zoisite moved up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She leaned back against him and shut her eyes.

Serenity nodded.

Lita made a choked sound and Nephrite drew her into his arms too, stroking her hair.

Raye flung herself at Jadeite, and whispered fiercely as he held her "You really did kill yourself rather than live without me?" he nodded, eyes just as fierce as her tone. She kissed him.

Mina stood looking at all of them, and the irony struck her. She swallowed a laugh. She was the Love Scout. Surely she, out of all of them, was supposed to be happy now too?

In the hall, Malachite listened to the ringing silence and imagined the stricken look he knew would be on her face. He shook the thoughts clear. She would not have him, that much was clear. He moved quietly away, down the hall.

"I need some fresh air." Said Serenity suddenly, pulling away from Endymion gently.

"Do you want company?" Asked Endymion, worried.

"No thank you, sweetheart. I'll be fine." She said it over her shoulder as she disappeared around the door. She passed Malachite standing at the foot of the stairs on her way out and patted his arm gently as she went by.

* * *

Serenity stormed out into the night, just wanting to put it all behind her and forget that dark things that haunted her. She was annoyed, infuriated in-fact! For goodness sake! Mina was the Sailor Scout of Love and yet she was denying herself the emotion she stood for. It wasn't hard to see she was still in love with Malachite. The reason Mina wanted to return to the Moon was because she wanted to avoid the whole 'General' issue. It had always been her way to simply avoid any issue she didn't want to deal with. She was too proud to simply forgive and forget. And yet that was exactly what she had always told the others to do when they had fights with their boyfriends.

She reached the top of a grassy hill, sat on a wet log and stared up at the sky. She couldn't see it, but the moon was up there.

She thought of the glorious kingdom that she had once lived in, and thought of the job in front of Endymion now. She had never really paid that much attention to the day-to-day running of a kingdom, and knew much less about the actual construction of one. People like Luna and Artemis, even Beryl had been there to help her mother in maintaining the kingdom. But to start from scratch….

The though of Beryl made her think of the youma still at large. She knew there would still be some about. Some would have escaped the imploding negaverse; others would have been on missions on earth. Thoughts of youma took her again to the past. She remembered the day she had first met a youma. In the silver millennium, before she had even known what they were, Beryl had introduced her to a youma that could change its form to copy the people around her. At the time, Serenity had though the youma nothing but a magician, and had been delighted when she had seen it turn into herself, and speak with her voice. Beryl had explained that the only way to tell if it was the youma or not was the eye colour. The youma could never quite get the eye colour right, because her eyes were different to human eyes. And indeed, the fake Serenity had had lighter eyes.

And as soon as that thought had entered her head Serenity's head snapped up, her eyes darkening as realization came to her.

But even as she leapt to her feet she realized something else. Her inattention to her surroundings had cost her dearly, because now she was surrounded.

Lightning cracked overhead.

* * *

Endymion came down the stairs, and spied Serenity in the foyer.

"Hey." He said softly. She looked up at him and smiled. He noticed she had changed her clothes since earlier, but that wasn't strange. She had gone for a walk in the rain.

"Hey." She said.

"Serenity! There you are! I was beginning to get worried!" said Amy, appearing from the depths of the lounge room.

Serenity looking honestly confused for a second. Then, "Why bother worrying? If I wasn't around you wouldn't have to bother about that nasty, niggling little thing called 'duty', now would you?"

"Nasty…?" asked Amy, a little hurt and confused, "You know I don't think that way, Sere…I do what I do because I love you. We all do."

"Why should one such as I be lumped with a weakling like you?" Serenity asked coldly. "You're useless in battle, and everyone knows it, they're just too polite to tell you!"

Amy staggered back as if struck. Zoisite came up behind her and glared at Serenity, "What's with you? This isn't funny!"

"My dear boy," Serenity asked coldly, eyebrows raised, "Whatever gave you the impression I was joking?"

"Serenity," Lita had come up behind Amy too, and was frowning at the blond, "what's wrong with you?"

"And here comes the great Lightning Goddess herself, ready to jump into battle and protect her friends!" cried the woman, leering at Lita, who recoiled.

"Nevermind that's she's daydreaming so much she'll probably get all of you killed anyway."

* * *

_Dammit. _Serenity ducked one of the deadly scythes that were being wielded by the youma surrounding her and landed a glancing blow with her foot in its stomach.

She spun in time to duck again, and then dart sideways as another scythe came spinning down towards her. As she came out of the crouch she frowned.

_They're stalling. They want to keep me here._ _Something must be happening at the mansion! Endymion! Everyone! _

She called on the crystal, and it appeared in her hand. She muttered a spell in Lunarian and there was a flash of light that lit up the entire sky, and a clap of thunder that rolled around the hills, and the five youma that had been stalling her were gone.

She wasted not an instant but took off over the slippery wet grass and headed towards the mansion, praying fervently. In her minds eye, she saw the true dream she had had of her and Endymion, back when all this started. She had been yelling at him, saying such hurtful things. And it hadn't occurred to her until now, but her eyes were wrong.

* * *

Endymion stared at her as she insulted her friends, one after another, trying to decide what was making her say these terrible things.

His silence had not gone unnoticed and she turned to him, after serving a round of well chosen insults and hurtful comments to Lita.

"And you!" she cried, pointing, "If you had been a bit quicker off the mark, I wouldn't have had to die, either time! Did you think everything would be all right now? That I would just forget and start a new life with you? Please. It was your weakling presence that made Beryl do what she did! I no more wish for a life with you than I do for death!"

She drew breath to say more, and then spied Mina, standing quietly off to the side, "And the great Sailor Scout of Emotions is here! She who cannot say what she truly feels because her pride is to great a thing for her to overcome! She who wishes for nothing more than to disappear so as to not have to deal with the issue of her lover!"

"How dare you!" whispered Mina, stung.

Serenity leered at her, "Get over yourselves. All of you!"

Mina raised a hand as if to hit her, and then stopped herself, staring into the angry eyes. She lowered her hand.

Serenity sneered at her. "Coward."

Mina stared at her still. The stare slowly turned from angry to horrorstruck.

Serenity circled around Mina, eyes glinting viciously. "I am the _most powerful being in the universe_. My brother isn't the rightful heir to the throne, _I am_, and I am _sick_ of all of you! Why should I, who can wipe out entire planets with a wave of my hand, put up with the likes of you? The Famed Sailor Scouts are _nothing_! The Great Earthen Generals are _less _than nothing! And _you!_"

She spun to point to Endymion, frozen in place, his face and eyes like that of a dead man, "you are so beneath my contempt you are not even worthy of a name!"

"How dare you!" growled Malachite, and she turned to face him, "On our own we are nothing, it is true, but when we work together we can beat anything! You proved that to us, Serenity, you!"

To everyone's horror, Serenity lunged at him, arms outstretched to choke him, but was bought up short with a strangled gasp, her blue eyes widening in shock, and then tightening in pain.

Everyone could only stare in horror. Mina had moved between her princess and her lover, and her sword was gripped in her hand, a hand quickly turning red as blood poured from around the blade that was impaling the princess.

Serenity looked down at the blade through her stomach, and at the fist clenched around the hilt of the Venus Sword. "wha…?"

"What have you done?" screamed Amy.

Raye started to wail, frozen to the spot; Jadeite grabbed her, his own face horror-struck. Lita was gasping for breath, as if she was the one with a blade in her stomach.

Malachite stared, frozen in shock, unable to comprehend, Nephrite made as if to move for Serenity, but stopped, unable to bear it.

"No!" whispered Zoisite, even as the princess began to collapse, falling to one knee.

Endymion watched with a kind of detached pain as she fell. _Again_. It was happening again! It felt as if everything was closing in around him, slowly turning dark. His vision narrowed until all he could see was the woman bleeding on the floor.

Mina stepped back, trembling uncontrollably, pulling the sword with her.

She looked down at the woman on the floor and felt uncertainty begin to grow inside… what if she was wrong...? Fear crawled through her gut, and an icy cold shiver ran through her body... _what if she was wrong?_

Raye stopped screaming as the princess fell sideways to the already bloody carpet, every eye on her. For an instant everything was silent, and then on some invisible cue, every eye in the room turned to Mina. Mina saw the rage, confusion and agony in the eyes of those around her, and tried to speak, but couldn't. no words would form within her mouth, suddenly dry and sandy. she looked down at the woman on the floor.

So she had been wrong, after all, and the princess was dying because of her. Again, she had failed in the duty she held most sacred. and more than failed too, for she had committed such an act!

Lita crouched by the princess, and lifted her into her arms, "Hang on, Sere you'll be right." But the tremble in her voice belied her confident words. Amy crouched and took Serenity's hand, nodding in agreement, but her eyes were wet.

Endymion stayed where he was, his world the bearest sliver of light, the rest in darkness as he watched her die again.

Then, as if from far away he heard a clatter, a crash and a gasp.

He turned towards the sound out of instinct, along with everyone in the room.

A young woman stood in the front door, one hand still on the wood where she had pushed it open. She was neither tall nor short, was wearing black jeans and a blue t-shirt with a little black blazer over the top. Her golden/silver hair was long and hung in a dripping curtain around her angelic face. He eyes where the most beautiful blue he has ever seen, and were sparkling in horror as she looked at the terrible tableau in front of her.

Serenity took in the scene before her, gasping with exhaustion after her headlong sprint, dripping on the mat, and understanding came in an instant. Mina had acted, and no one else saw the truth.

The woman on the floor saw the real princess and knew herself to be truly dead.

She took one last breath and launched herself at the woman with the sword, the one who had figured her for what she was, a shape shifting youma.

Mina, caught like a fly in a web by the sight of the woman in the doorway, did not see the creature coming until it was too late. She caught the movement, heard Amy's startled gasp, and then her vision was filled with the womans attacking figure.

Serenity moved, knowing she wouldn't make it, but she dashed forward anyway, and yelled "Malachite!"

The white haired General reacted and grabbed Mina's shoulder, pulling them both sideways out of the way of the leaping, hissing, snarling creature that only a few seconds ago had been an almost perfect copy of Serenity.

The creature landed, turned and readied to spring again, but Serenity got there first, and instead of using any of the power at her command, instead of burning the thing with a spell, she smacked it with a fist as damn hard as she could.

The thing tumbled backwards, landing on the floor and looked up at her, and let out a cold, gurgling laugh.

"Hello again, Princess."

Endymion's darkened world changed. Suddenly he could see again, could breathe without pain, the dark and pain receding to nothing as he looked at his love who wasn't dead.

"What did you say to them?" demanded Serenity, voice cold, ignoring the pain in her hand.

"Nothing you weren't thinking." Grinned the beast, "Nothing untrue."

Serenity sucked in a breath and let it out. "Here's a truth for you, bitch." She leaned close to the thing, "There is no afterlife for youma."

_"Cosmic Moon Power._" The words were spoken coldly, with no feeling, and the youma was given no chance to scream as it turned to dust.

There was a beat of total, ringing silence, punctuated only by the storm outside.

And then Mina let out a heart rending wail, dropped her sword and ran to her princess and friend.

"I was so scared that it was you!" she cried, even as Serenity hugged her.

"Hey, hey, its ok." Said Serenity, rocking the sobbing girl, still panting after her headlong dash, "It's all over."

Raye felt all the strength leave her body, and would have collapsed if Jadeite had not held her. she looked up at him, and he grinned weakly at her, and only his trembling hands showed how affected he had been by what had just occured.

"She was a shape shifter?" asked Amy weakly from where she still kneeled in the blood, rocking with nervous exhaustion. Zoisite hurried to her side.

Serenity nodded, "Yes. Forgive me! I was… held up by some of her friends…. I'm so, so sorry I didn't get here earlier." This last was said to Endymion, whose face was frighteningly blank.

He nodded but said nothing.

Serenity watched him for a second, worried at the emptiness she saw, but then Mina's legs gave out and her attention was diverted to the scout. When she looked again he had left the room.

Mina sobbed, inconsolably for a long time, and if anyone thought that not all the tears she shed were for this latest incident, no one said anything. For a time Serenity was consumed by comforting her distraught friends and could not follow him.

But something happy did come from the incident. Serenity was holding Mina, on the floor, the other girls clustered around when Malachite crouched and touched Mina's shoulder. The princess felt the girl stiffen, and realised that Mina knew without looking who's hand it was on her shoulder.

"Well done for spotting her." He said quietly.

Mina lifted a tear-streaked face and stared at him. In that instant nothing mattered. Not what had happened, not her damn pride, not her duty. Not her fear of the future. Nothing but him.

"We need to talk Mina." He said softly, and held out a hand.

She looked at it, the strong fingers and wide palm. A hand that would hold hers easily, if she let it.

Slowly, so slowly, she reached out and took his hand.

Serenity watched them go, silently, with the others.

"Well." Said Lita dropping to the floor next to her once they were gone. "That was… unexpected."

"Yeah." Agreed Raye from the other side, "but about time. She can be such a hypocrite sometimes. Sailor Scout of Love my ass!"

"You're right though, it is about time! She made life difficult for us for a bit, that's for sure. Trust a blond." That was Sam's contribution to the conversation, and Zoisite, Jadeite and Serenity gave him dirty looks.

Lita snorted. "I doubt it will be as quick as the rest of us. Mina loved Malachite for a lot longer than we loved you guys." This was addressed to the three generals still present.

Nephrite shrugged, "Once they're back together nothing will tear them apart again."

Serenity nodded thoughtfully, and then looked around at them all. "Are you all alright? I gather from my dreams she was pretty nasty."

"You dreamed of this?" demanded Zoisite.

"Long ago. I thought it was me, until I remembered my eyes looked odd in the dream."

"The eyes?" asked Nephrite from where he was crouched behind Lita, playing idly with her hair.

"The eyes are the only part that a shape shifter can never get right. There's something in the human eye that defies them." Amy explained, as usual up with every topic. Zoisite glanced at her with pride as she spoke, Serenity noted, and suddenly felt very alone.

"I'm gonna go find Endymion, I don't think he took this too well." She said as she stood.

They nodded, and as she ascended the stairs she heard them start to discuss what movie they were going to watch in the den.

Endymion was standing by one of the large windows in the gallery. He was looking up at the painting of his princess with the rose that he had been shown only a few days ago.

"Endymion? Are you alright?"

He looked at her, standing nervously off to the side, and said, "I honestly don't know."

She came close and took his hand, squeezing it gently, "is it what she said to you?"

"Perhaps…" he thought about it, "she… she was scarily accurate, Sere…she said things… things that make me wonder…"

He turned to her. "Do you need me?"

She started at him open mouthed, and he continued quickly, "I am nothing compared to you. You light up the room when you enter it, you are heir to one of the most powerful forces on earth; you could rule the galaxy if you chose. Why… why are you with me?"

"Endymion…."

"I am nothing compared to you!" he whispered fiercely, placing his hands on her cheeks, "I have no special powers, no special abilities. Why me?!"

"Would you prefer that I was not with you?" she asked quietly.

"No!" he cried, and then again, softer, "No."

He stared into her eyes. "But I do not understand why you are here with me when you could be with anyone you chose."

She sighed, "You fool. I love you. Love does not choose based on principles of power or ability!"

He didn't appear convinced so she kissed him gently and quickly, "Endymion, I love you, no matter what, and for ever. Do you understand that?"

"But you could-"

"Don't you dare tell me I could do better!" she growled fiercely.

He blinked at her,

"Endymion… Dammit! I am in love with you, I need you! Not anyone else! I only feel as if I am complete when I am with you!"

He stared at her for an instant.

"Truly?"

"Yes!" she cried, "its like half of me is missing and I can't function when you aren't here!"

He gathered her into his arms.

"I feel the same way. It felt like I died when I thought you were dead." He said softly.

She sighed, holding him as tight as she could.

"Endymion, I know she mentioned my deaths. I don't blame you. For either time, and nor should I because you were not responsible! I have only myself to blame for the destruction of my kingdom. If I had listened to you about Beryl everything would have been different. And a few days ago… I went in deliberately, knowing what was at stake. It wasn't like I wanted to die, but I accepted it might happen, and I'd change it all if I could. "

Endymion stroked her hair, feeling alive again. "I'm not so sure I would change anything at the moment." He murmured, shutting his eyes.

* * *

**AN: Basically this chapter was a way of getting from point A to point B. And that's the end, almost, anyway. One more chapter, and no, this will not be continued until Reenie pops up. I have other stories I want to write! Please review! This story gets more hits than reviews, which leaves me with no idea what the majority of you are thinking!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Last Chapter**

**AN at the end. Thanks for reading, as always. All constructive criticism welcome.**

* * *

"So?"

Mina, seated in a chair in the lounge, glanced up from the chic magazine she was reading without moving her head, peering with bright eyes at the girls in the doorway. Amy, Lita and Raye stood there with gleeful, expectant looks on their faces.

She went back to the magazine.

"Miiiiiiinaaaaa!"

She glanced up at them and then down to the mag again, feeling her cheeks warm, and wishing they didn't know her so well.

Raye jumped into the room with a gleeful

"Aha! I knew it! Your face is going red!" she pointed at Mina's bright cheeks.

Mina dropped the magazine, and it fell to the floor. She put her hands to her face. It was hot.

"It is not!" she protested from behind clamped fingers.

Amy giggled behind one hand, "You are red, Mina."

Lita took two steps and threw herself down on the opposite couch and grinned in a silly fashion at the blonde.

"As a beetroot." She added with a snort

Amy and Raye high fived each other, laughing.

"Stop teasing me!" moaned Mina.

"So its all good then?" asked Amy, settling herself on the floor.

Raye sat on the end of the couch. "And how good is good?" she asked eagerly, making Amy giggle.

Mina was, by now, red all down her neck as well.

Raye sniffed airily, "Not that I care, of course. No one could be better than Jed."

Lita raised her eyebrows, "Excuse me? I beg to differ, oh fiery one. Nephrite is the best."

"You're both incorrect." Amy chimed before Raye could retaliate, "Zoisite wins. Hands down." She said it so confidently that Lita laughed.

"You're all wrong!" declared Mina, grabbing a cushion from the couch, "Malachite all the way! Hiiiiyah!" she threw the cushion and it caught Raye in the face. Raye let out a surprised 'oomph' and toppled backwards, landing with a thump, upside down on the floor.

"My my, your sailor skills need some major reflex work, Mars!" the Venurian said, arming herself again as Lita began her own assault of cushions.

"I'll show you Sailor skills!" cried the brunette, and the pillow war began.

&#&(&#&(

Malachite was sitting comfortably on the steps to the veranda, the sun on his face. He seemed to be in another world. Endymion watched him from where he sat swinging seat in the veranda, a cold drink in his hand. On one side of him Nephrite too lounged with a drink and a smirk. Jadeite was sprawled along the railing, without a drink but with a newspaper. A newspaper that he wasn't paying any attention to. He too was watching Malachite with a mirthful smirk.

They exchanged a glance, and a snigger.

"Gone." Pronounced Endymion.

"Whipped." Agreed Jadeite.

"Totally under her thumb." Announced Nephrite, "but then, he always was, really."

"True."

They tapped their glasses together,

"Cheers!"

Endymion heard female laughter from inside and wondered if Serenity was laughing too. He didn't hear her laugh, but it didn't mean she wasn't there.

#&()&#&()(&#

Serenity, as it happened was not with the girls.

She was sitting on the roof.

The day was nice, albeit a little damp after the storm last night.

But the clear blue sky stretched from left to right above her. A slight breeze ruffled her golden hair, and the peaceful day enveloped her. Here she could think.

"New world, huh?" she said softly to no one.

There was no answer of course, so she stood and looked out over the property, and at the city beyond it.

For a second she saw it all as it was. Concrete and glass, asphalt and metal. Then her vision blurred, wavered, and cleared and when she saw again what she saw before her was a great city. It stretched from horizon to horizon, a jumble of different, gleaming shapes and streets. At the centre a great palace rose majestically above the skyline, its protective presence comforting and regal. Its towers were tall and splendid, shining silver in the sun. A crystal city, full of peace, hope and love.

She blinked and it was gone, but she knew what it was anyway.

The future.

_Her_ future.

For a second the weight of that responsibility bore down on her and she felt the oppressing, constricting feeling of that duty tighten around her. The burden of millions and millions of lives resting in her hands, their safety and happiness was her calling. Her job.

Then the weight was gone, taken away by the sound of laughter from below her, muted but audible because of an open window. That happy, flighty sound whisked all her fear and pain away in an instant.

And she smiled.

Her job, her duty, and her calling, but not hers alone.

They would all be there with her. Endymion would be there with her. Her heart swelled with peace and contentment.

Her job, her duty and her calling, but not hers alone and not yet, either.

The city she had seen was far, far in the future.

Not here, not now.

She slipped off the roof, landed two stories down with a soft bump and wandered in the direction of her friends, complacence showing in every movement. Her future, their future, would come, and soon enough. But for now, she had her friends, and her family and her gorgeous prince.

That was far more than enough.

_For now._

* * *

**AN;**

**That's it folks. Thanks again for reading. Much obliged. I will not be continuing this one, however, I will be writing other Sailor Moon Fics in the future so look out for them! Hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy writing them! I will also be writing other anime fics, including Hellsing, Naruto and hopefully Princess Tutu. If you're a fan of them, keep coming and having a look at my profile!**

**Also, some real constructive criticism would be welcome, please! Did I end it right? It took me ages to decide how I wanted to end it. And should I have added the extra characters in there or just kept it with the main senshi and the general at the end? Opinions please!**


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